Roads may take longer to clear this winter
Ohio, Greater Columbus facing shortage of drivers
Similar to other states, Ohio is facing a shortage of snowplow and salt truck drivers heading into the winter season — putting into doubt the speed at which interstates and other primary and secondary roads will be cleared, though officials express confidence that the job will still get done.
It’s not unusual for the Ohio Department of Transportation to face difficulty in finding seasonal drivers, especially in cities, said Matt Bruning, agency spokesman. What is unusual this year, he said, is the scope of that challenge.
There are simply more driving positions than there are people to fill them, he said.
“You look at Amazon, trash haulers and any kind of trucking companies, they’re all desperately searching for people to drive trucks,” Bruning said. “So ODOT is in that same boat with everybody else.”
Bruning said rural areas of Ohio may be better positioned to weather winter storms because people there with commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) have fewer choices when it comes to who to drive for and are more likely to be available to help with the roads.
“If you have a CDL in Columbus, you have way more options than if you have a CDL in Mcarthur (in southern Ohio),” he said. “In our rural areas of Ohio, we are usually able to fill those positions relatively quickly, and we don’t have
nearly the challenge that we do, say, in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo. This year, it seems to be harder.”
Bruning couldn’t provide the exact number of seasonal drivers ODOT is still seeking, saying he’s given that figure only when people have been hired and onboarded. What is known is that statewide, ODOT has more than 3,300 truck drivers, about 500 of which are seasonal.
The typical driver for ODOT during the winter season is someone who is trying to get their foot in the door; a recent retiree of the agency who’d like to stay busy; or a summer construction worker, Bruning said.
But each holiday season, ODOT has to compete with companies like UPS and Fedex. And this year, the volume of truck traffic on Ohio highways is up 10% over 2019 levels, Bruning said.
“Somebody has to drive those trucks, so that would tell me that there’s got to be a demand for trucking positions,” he said. “Those people have CDLS. That’s direct competition for ODOT.”
ODOT has a goal to clear main roads within two hours of the end of a snow event and secondary roads within four hours. While the department hit that goal 95% of the time last winter, Bruning said this year might prove more challenging.
“It’s just going to take longer to get the job done,” he said. “There’s not going to be a situation where you’re going to hear us say to you, ‘Well, hope you don’t need to use I-70 this weekend because it’s going to snow and we just don’t have enough people to plow it.’ That’s never going to happen. We will always plow and treat all of our roadways.
“What will happen is it will take longer to do that in some areas of the state where we just don’t have the manpower we’ve had in years past.”
Brooke Ebersole, spokesperson for ODOT District 6, which serves Greater
Columbus, said shipping warehouses and distribution centers in Franklin County can sometimes offer better hours and more pay than ODOT because scheduling isn’t dependent on weather.
“We’re only pulling those seasonals in for overtime when it is snowing,” Ebersole said. “They can offer peak wages over the holiday and some things that make it a little bit more of a competitive environment.”
ODOT District 6, headquartered in the city of Delaware, maintains more than 4,900 lane miles of interstate, federal and state highways in Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Madison, Marion, Morrow, Pickaway and Union counties in Greater Columbus, according to its website.
The city of Columbus is still looking to hire about 40 snowplow and salt truck drivers, but on a full-time basis, said Charles Newman, spokesperson for the city Department of Public Service. New hires will shift to filling potholes and other duties after winter for the department, which maintains more than 5,000 lane miles of roadways, according to its website.
The department’s labor shortage is compounded by the retirement of longtime employees, Newman said. But he’s confident city streets will be plowed during snow events, even if it may take longer than in previous years.
“We are sure that we can get the work done during the snow season,” Newman said. “We’re not looking for any services
being canceled, but we do emphasize patience with residents. It may be a little bit longer.”
The city’s goal is for all roads — primary and residential — to be clear within 72 hours of the end of a snow event, Newman explained.
The Franklin County Engineer’s office, which is responsible for clearing and maintaining 260 miles of roadways, is fully staffed, according to Carla Marable, director of communications for the office.
Staffing levels dipped this year due to retirement and attrition, Marable said, but hiring ramped up ahead of the impending winter season. mtrombly@dispatch @Monroetrombly