MoDOT Prepares for Winter Storm

The Missouri Department of Transportation has been following a winter storm headed our way for more than a week, and that very storm is scheduled to hit just in time for Christmas Eve.

"Staff is monitoring the weather forecast and has all our crews and trucks available to plow the snow expected on Christmas Eve," said Owen Hasson, MoDOT Maintenance Superintendent for the St. Louis area. "If it's snowing, MoDOT will be plowing the roads. We will also monitor the roadways for slick spots. We stand ready."

MoDOT currently is pretreating major routes, beginning with interstates. The second-most heavily traveled roads will be treated next. In Oakville this will mainly be Lemay Ferry and Telegraph Roads. Crews will then plow the remaining less-traveled roads, concentrating on hills, curves and intersections.

"We strongly urge motorists to do any traveling this evening or very early Friday morning. Since the snow accumulation is expected to occur after noon on Friday, stay home and limit travel on the roads that afternoon and evening," Hasson said.

Hasson added that MoDOT is expecting the "event" to be mostly snow, and they are waiting for the latest forecast models along with the rest of us.

MoDOT has more 450 employees and 220 pieces of equipment including 13 tow plows in the St. Louis area. Statewide, MoDOT has more than 3,000 employees, more than 1,600 pieces of equipment and approximately 32,000 tons of salt ready to fight winter storms.

With more than 450 employees working on this storm, Hasson said that a white Christmas isn't as exciting as it may be to the rest of us.

"I'm sure they (the employees) all prefer it to not be a white Christmas so they can stay home with their families," he said.

For an updated view of road conditions, visit www.modot.org or call MoDOT's customer service center at 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (888-275-6636).