MoDOT crews continue road, highway treatment amid snowfall

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Department of Transportation's Central District sent crews out to begin treating roads at about 4 a.m. Monday as snow began to fall in mid-Missouri.

"We started off just having watch crews just doing a little treatment ahead of time where we could," said MoDOT central district engineer Jason Shafer. "We were having some rain and treatment just isn't effective because it's going to wash off, but then as soon as it started snowing, we had plows down spreading material."

MoDOT's Central District is using 225 trucks to treat 11,300 lane miles of highway.

"We're focused on our major highways where the most traffic is at," Shafer said. "We prioritize them like that and then we work our way down to the minor routes from there."

"We're concerned about refreezing tonight," Shafer said. "So, we're going to have crews out throughout the night. If you can, just stay home and just stay away from the snowplows. We have a lot of heavy trucks that don't stop very rapidly."

The National Weather Service recorded more than an inch of snow Monday at the Columbia Regional Airport, setting a record for the date. Temperatures overnight into Tuesday are expected to fall into the single digits and will not climb out of the 20s.

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