"Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
Add ice and floods and this motto - most often attributed to the U.S. Postal Service - summarizes what Missouri Department of Transportation highway crews have been up against for the past five months.
The Missouri House of Representatives recently honored MoDOT maintenance crews with a House resolution thanking them for keeping Missouri highways clear and safe. Reps. David Pearce, Charlie Schlottach and Tom Loehner sponsored the resolution. In addition, Sen. John Griesheimer praised MoDOT workers on the Senate floor for their efforts to keep roads open during the floods.
Most recently road crews have been busy scouting flood conditions, closing overflowing roads and sandbagging low-lying areas to keep water off of roadways. During the winter, MoDOT maintenance staff used enough salt - 320,000 tons - to fill Mizzou arena in Columbia in their battle to keep state highways clear of ice and snow. Maintenance crews put in approximately 550,000 working hours, including 215,000 hours of overtime, keeping Missouri roads clear.
"To make things even more challenging, many of the weather emergencies hit on a weekend or holiday," MoDOT Director Pete Rahn said. "Our crews barely had a breather between winter's ice and snow and the spring flooding. We've had to ask a lot of our employees these past several months, and like the Post Office they've delivered.
"We all can use a pat on the back now and again," Rahn said. "We thank the legislature for recognizing the efforts of our great crews."
No comments:
Post a Comment