LEBANON, Ill. — Road crews on both sides of the river are ready to work around the clock to keep our roads clear, but they face a major roadblock.
Things may be quiet now at the IDOT yard off Route 50 in Lebanon, Illinois, but IDOT engineer Joseph Monroe said that’s quickly going to change with winter weather on the way.
“It’s a lot of moving parts,” said Monroe. “You’re looking at about 84 hours of work from the women and men behind the plows.”
They’re stocked up on salt, and making brine, but there’s concern their work could get washed away.
“I would love to be out pretreating putting our brine down ahead of this storm and have the bond breaker in place before the winter precipitation hit,” said Monroe. “That’s going to be a bit of a challenge.”
However, mother nature is just part of the problem with IDOT and MODOT facing potential staff shortages as the storm approaches.
“We’re not perfect with COVID, so staffing numbers will fluctuate,” said Monroe. “Emergency on-call, the folks that allow us to fill out routes, we’re short in that area.”
“It may take crews longer to return roads to a mostly clear status after the storm ends later this week,” said MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna.
Monroe said he has enough full-time employees to fill the gaps.
“It’s going to be very difficult because you’re going to be really stretching out the available staff to cover multiple additional lane miles that they typically wouldn’t,” said Monroe.
With 5200 miles of road in his district, Monroe admitted his crews have a challenge on their hands.
“Where you will see a difference is in the lulls in the storm or when we’re trying to clean up,” said Monroe.
That’s why he has a plan in place to that he believes will keep the roads clear.
“You almost have to work the storm in reverse,” said Monroe. “Where do I want to be Friday morning rush, or Friday evening rush, to make sure I can achieve those goals.”
Monroe is encouraging people to gas up ahead of the storm, make sure their cell phone is charged, and keep things like kitty litter in their car to help in the event they get in a slick spot.
MoDOT held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon with other state transportation leaders about their plans to prepare for the winter storm. The full press conference is below.