MoDOT adjusts its practices to deal differently with each storm and tries to return roads to near-normal driving conditions as soon as possible after a storm’s end. Because MoDOT doesn’t have enough workers or trucks to clear every highway immediately after a snowstorm, the department has set priorities for which roads to clear first.
Priority 1: Roads with the highest traffic volumes are cleared, or treated, first. These include interstates and other major routes, which receive continuous treatment throughout a storm.
Priority 2: Lower-volume lettered and numbered routes are cleared next. Traffic on these routes may be impeded until higher-volume routes are open and clear.
Even after all the roadway surfaces are as clear as possible, MoDOT’s work is not done. Workers now must clean up the accumulation on shoulders, bridge edges and at interchanges. This work is usually completed during normal working hours.
Our goal is to return the Priority 1 routes to a clear condition as soon as possible after the storm ends; and to plow and treat the critical areas of all other routes as soon as possible after the storm ends.
More information to help you handle winter driving conditions
For 24-hour winter road conditions on major routes across the state, call the Missouri State Highway Patrol at 1-800-222-6400. Call 1-888-ASK MODOT
to receive reports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Because MoDOT doesn’t have enough workers or trucks to clear every highway immediately after a snowstorm, the department has set priorities for which roads to clear first.
