Snow plow crews still work 14-hour days to clear roads

Several blizzards since December have left mountains of snow for crews with the Nebraska Department of Roads, especially in the northeast. Kevin Domogalla, the D-O-R’s District 3 operations manager, says they’re still working to open all the highways from the snowfall earlier this week.
Domogalla says there are seven big rotary blowers running throughout the region, with four of them running 24 hours a day, working to reopen all the roads and push the snow back. It’s been a brutal winter so far with a full month left. He says the crews have put in a lot of long days — and nights.
“Some crews are working 31 days straight without a day off,” Domogalla says. “Some of them go 14-hour shifts, others we have working 12-hour shifts and then switch off with another crew.” Domogalla says when all the snow and ice melts, there will be even more work for them to tackle.
He says potholes will be returning in force, while areas that are prone to flooding will be on the lookout for high water, depending on how fast the snow melts.
He says they continue to see people drive when and where they shouldn’t when the weather is nasty, which slows down their ability to clear off roads. A number of highways in the northeast part of the state still have areas of only one lane of travel. Domogalla says they hope to have them all open by later today.
Thanks to Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton