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News: MoDOT Using More Beet Juice to Keep Roads Clear
Winters in the St. Louis area are often unpredictable. The Missouri Department of Transportation is prepared to work around the clock before and during a winter storm to ensure a safe commute for area motorists.
MoDOT’s St. Louis Metro District will have the help of more than 500 employees when clearing roads this winter. They will work in 12-hour shifts around the clock when a storm hits the area. The St. Louis District maintains 6,400 lane miles of state-owned interstate highways, numbered and lettered routes. To give you an idea of how many miles that is, if you were to take our roadways and stretch them out to one lane, it would go from New York to San Francisco and back.
During an average snowfall, more than 230 trucks equipped with plows, wing plows, salt brine tanks and rock salt spreaders will be used to fight snow, ice and frost in the St. Louis area. The St. Louis Metro District also has a new piece of equipment called a TowPLow. It is a trailer snowplow pulled by a standard snowplow. It can cut a 30-foot swath or 2.5 lanes of pavement.
Priorities for MoDOT snow-removal operations:
- Priority 1: Highest traffic-volume roadways are cleared first, including interstates and other major routes. These roads receive continuous treatment throughout a storm.
- Priority 2: Heaviest-traveled sections of state numbered and lettered routes like Lindbergh (Route 61/67), Olive (Route 340) and Page Avenue (Route 364).
- Priority 3: Lower-volume, lettered or numbered routes. MoDOT pays special attention to routes traveled by school buses and commuters.
- Priority 4: After the storm, workers clean up snow on shoulders, ramps, overpasses, sides of bridges and barrier walls.
Safety Tips for driving in the snow:
- Slow down. When there is ice or snow on the road, reduce your speed by at least one-half of the speed limit. When the roads are wet, reduce your speed by at least one-third of the speed limit.
- Stay back at least 100 feet from snowplows.
- Since the roads in the best condition are behind the plows, your safest place to drive is behind the plows.
- Do not pass or drive beside snowplows.
Road Condition Information:
- MoDOT reminds motorists to check its online Traveler Information Map: http://maps.modot.mo.gov/travelerinformation
*The map will be updated continuously throughout the storm to show whether major roads are clear, partly covered, covered or closed.
- Missouri State Highway Patrol Hotline at 1-800-222-6400.
- MoDOT Customer Service at 1-888-ASK MODOT (1-888-275-6636).
*MoDOT's toll-free customer service line is staffed 24/7.
General Winter Weather Information:
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