The City of Rolla Public Works Department is in full swing this time of year. Normally the employees work 12 hour shifts, from 7 to 7. However, they can stay out longer if the conditions are very bad or get worse.

The workers are alerted before storms with a weather service that provides them with the severity of the storm, when it is going to hit, and other necessary pieces of information so that they are able to start preparing. They treat the roads with mixtures of sand, salt and sawdust depending on conditions so that they are able to minimize the potential danger of bad roads. If it snows they wait until it starts accumulating to plow the roads.

“Typically we treat the roads with salt, sand and sawdust,” director Steve Hargis said.