Boone County Road and Bridge and MoDOT fight bitter cold while working to clear roads

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Road crews for Boone County and the Missouri Department of Transportation continued their around-the-clock battle against snow and bitter cold Tuesday.

Boone County crews were in overnight and were relieved by a day crew that took over at 7 a.m. Tuesday, said Boone County Road and Bridge Director Greg Edington.

"Now we're just going back over areas and cleaning off some residual stuff," said Edington.

Edington said Boone County crews will be out again Tuesday night running 10 routes around the county with one person assigned to each route.

They're working against bitterly cold temperatures that have complicated the fight to clear multiple rounds of snow that began over the weekend. More snow and freezing drizzle is possible Wednesday. Temperatures will stay in the teens Tuesday and overnight, rendering materials used to melt snow from the roads less effective.

Edington said when temperatures get to 20 degrees and below, his crews start to mix stone sand with the salt to add traction.

"There's really nothing else you can do besides give traction to the roads," Edington said. "It helps a bit with the daylight too, and more traffic that runs over it ... the less-traveled roads are usually the worst."

Jason Shafer, MoDOT district maintenance engineer, said crews have been out 24 hours a day since Friday.

"We are still plowing and treating but these extreme temperatures are really working against us," Shafer said.

Shafer said all 1,500 MoDOT trucks statewide are out on the roads.

"Now granted, we don't have this type of weather statewide, but we've got all of them out," Shafer said.

Shafer said the repeated rounds of wintry precipitation over a few days is more challenging than one big storm.

"This sounds crazy but if we have one snow that is actually easier for us to stay on top of in the long run than having a lot of smaller storms ... because you treat it once or a couple times and you're done," Shafer said. "This is extremely cold temperatures and it kind of keeps coming over a very long period of time which makes it very tough."

Shafer said drivers should give themselves extra time while driving and give plows and trucks plenty of room. Those who can avoid driving should, he said.

Authorities were sent to several crashes Tuesday, including one that backed up traffic along Interstate 70 westbound at the Missouri River bridge.

Check back for updates to this developing story and watch ABC 17 News at 5 and 6.