COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Transportation is sending a winter warning for central Ohio drivers that traffic backups on interstates could happen during snow storms because it couldn’t find enough people to plow.
ODOT says it needs 300 plow drivers for the central Ohio region but it’s short 30 drivers this year.
“So 30 vacancies is 30 plow routes. That means another driver is going to have to pick up those routes on top of their own assigned route,” said Brooke Ebersole of ODOT Columbus.
So what does the mean for those getting from point A to point B? Expect to sit in traffic longer as snowplow drivers try to their best to clear the snow and ice.
“So when we are talking about drivers who are double or tripling on routes we are talking about two to three hours that you are waiting as opposed to the 90 minutes maybe you were used to wait a couple of years ago,” Ebersole said.
The City of Columbus is taking a three pronged approach to snow removal.
If there is a dusting of snow the city plans to send out 45 plows to keep the roads passable.
If one to three inches fall, the city will put 55 plows on the road plus 15 smaller pick up plows for a total of 70 plows.
The city says after hearing complaints from residents, it’s now making residential feeder streets a plow priority.
“Those streets will now get serviced with every storm. In years past we would only serve those streets with 4 or more inches; this year they will get served with every storm they are going to get plowed curb to curb when plowing is necessary,” Tourville said.
You can connect to the city warrior watch here.
If your street is not getting plowed, you are urged to call the city’s 311 line.
Columbus is urging people to park their cars in a driveway or garage during snow storms to allow plows to get through.