The holiday season is officially underway, which means thousands of Northeast Ohio drivers will be hitting the roads for holiday shopping and winter gatherings.
How drivable those roads will be when the snow falls has a lot to do with how many snow plows are out clearing the roads.
The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is still looking to hire 150 more snow plow drivers in Northeast Ohio to ensure highways are cleared as quickly as possible during winter weather, said Ray Marsch, spokesperson for ODOT District 4.
“If we are not able to hire folks, it’s just going to take a little bit longer for these roads to come back to operational speed,” Marsch said. “We’re obviously hoping … [that] we increase our numbers for full-time drivers and seasonals.”
District 4 includes Summit, Stark, Portage, Ashtabula, Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Marsch said his district is looking for nearly 70 additional seasonal workers and is making a push for seasonal employees with job fairs, including one in Akron on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at its South Arlington Road office.
“It’s mainly the urban areas, like Summit County, [where] we’re lacking our seasonal folks,” Marsch added. “In Trumbull and Mahoning, we’re sitting pretty good, but there’s openings.”
While ODOT trucks will be out on the interstates in a winter weather event regardless of staffing, not having enough workers will decrease response times, he said.
“We’re going to be out in full force, but if these hiring numbers don’t come up … it’s just going to take a little longer to get the roads back to normal operation speed as what motorists are typically used to,” Marsch said.
ODOT also trained some employees that aren’t plow drivers, such as Marsch himself, to be “auxiliary drivers” that can be deployed if needed, he said. The auxiliary drivers secured commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs), which are required to drive large and heavy vehicles, he said.
ODOT pays for new employees to receive this certification, Marsch said.
While the agency is still looking for more staff, it isn't seeing any supply chain problems, said Marsch, noting that ODOT has more than 1,700 trucks in Northeast Ohio and more than 742,000 tons of road salt.
A key concern for drivers in the Akron area is the ongoing construction on the Akron beltway and central interchange.
Marsch encourages drivers to take extra precaution while driving through construction zones in bad weather conditions.
The contraflow lanes at the construction at the I-76, I-77 and Route 8 interchange – single lanes that altered the flow of traffic in that area – were removed last week, he said.
“Those have been lifted for the winter months,” Marsch said. “These zones will still remain, there will still be restrictions, but the contraflow will be gone. But obviously, take extra precaution while driving through them.”
