Friday's gray skies and chilling rains turned many motorists' minds to the challenges of driving on Missouri's roads during the winter. However, those charged with clearing the roads have been preparing for winter's onslaught for weeks.
"For the last couple of weeks, we have been putting on the equipment and making sure the trucks are in good shape," said Cole County Public Works Director Larry Benz. "We have around 5,000 tons of salt in storage, so we are in good shape with supplies. I just hope we don't have to get out and start using it here very soon."
Statistics provided by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) show, over the the past five years, the annual snow removal cost for the state has been $46.7 million with 160,000 tons of salt used per winter.
MoDOT has purchased 110,000 tons of salt to refill supplies for the coming winter and has a total of 220,000 tons on hand statewide. The department paid $69 per ton this year for salt supplies compared to $80 per ton last year.
"At 220,000 tons of salt in our supplies, we have enough salt to get through most winters," said MoDOT spokesman Sally Oxenhandler. "Our average salt usage per winter is approximately 160,000 tons. We do have contracts in place to purchase additional salt through the winter if necessary."
Last year in MoDOT's Central District, which includes the Jefferson City area, the total cost for clearing roads was $8,975,475.02. There were 25,475 tons of salt used on the 11,350 lane miles of roads and 93,607 man hours to clear roads, driving 1 million miles in 225 snowplow trucks.
Oxenhandler said MoDOT's priorities on which roads to clear first have not changed from last winter. Depending on the type of storm, the department's first priority is to return interstates and major roads to near-normal driving conditions as soon as possible after a storm ends.
"We work to treat hills, curves and intersections on lower-volume routes, such as numbered and lettered highways," Oxenhandler said. "When our high-volume roads are mostly clear, we turn our focus to making the lower-volume highways passable for two-way traffic."