MoDOT asks for patience ahead of winter weather as driver shortage persists
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri Department of Transportation is preparing statewide for a large winter system moving in this weekend.
"We had a winter weather conference call this morning at 9 a.m. with the Weather Service, the Highway Patrol, all our partners," said Darin Hamelink, MoDOT's State Maintenance Director. "So yeah, we're gearing up in terms of our drivers, equipment, salt, all that."
The ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team has issued a Weather Alert Day for Saturday night through Monday morning. Snow and ice are expected to start falling on Mid-Missouri on Saturday evening. Several inches of snow could accumulate along with ice.
The system will dump more ice in the south and more snow in the north.
Despite the advanced preparations, MoDOT tells ABC 17 News that clearing the roads will still take some time due to staffing issues.
"We are still several hundred drivers short to fill all our trucks for two shifts," Hamelink said. "So we run 12-hour shifts back to back basically until we get roads back to near normal."
MoDOT has struggled to retain drivers, leading the agency to divert resources and staff.
"If we know, for example, St. Louis is going to get the brunt of this storm, just for example, we'll shift drivers from maybe the southern part of the state that may not be as impacted. So that helps us to a degree to overcome the driver shortage," Hamelink said.
MoDOT is also preparing for maintenance and mechanical issues with its salt trucks due to low and freezing temperatures. Diesel fuel, which powers snow plows, can gel in extreme cold.
"We have roughly 1,500 dump trucks statewide and you may have 10% down during a storm, sometimes more. I remember we had one storm in particular where we had a deep freeze for an extended period of time where we had fuel gelling issues and so we had more trucks down than normal," Hamelink said.
However, MoDOT says it has plenty of salt to treat the icy roads.
"We ordered that really early in the year, as early as the spring, and then it starts getting delivered through the summer months. By November, we usually have 90% plus of our salt delivered, so we're really good there on salt trucks," Hamelink said.
Hamelink also reminds drivers to stay alert, cautious and even to stay home if possible as the winter weather rolls through this weekend.
"If you can't see our plow operator, you definitely shouldn't try to pass them. Stay back, give yourself plenty of time," said Hamelink. "If you can stay home, especially on Sunday, that's something we really want to hit hard on, is if you don't have to be out because that helps us do our job."
The ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Alert Day will end at 10 a.m. Monday.
