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MACON, MO -- It’s time for MoDOT to concentrate on snow removal for the season.  And part of that concentration will be on the budget.

MoDOT officials are paying close attention to the how resources are being spent. To do so, removal is broken down into two categories.

“We’ve got our system broken down to what we call our continuous operations routes and our non-continuous operations routes, which are basically our high volume roads and our low volume roads. And on our high volume routes, we’re going to continue to clear those roads as we’ve always one in the past.  And on our lower volume or minor roads, we’re going to make sure they’re plowed and treated, but not necessarily back to normal conditions as far as being bare pavement,” said Dan Niec, MoDOT's North Central District Engineer.

Niec says high volume roads include Highways 63 and 36.  The low volume roads include the lettered roads.

He told us that MoDOT is looking at how they can manage material and overtime usage.

“We’re going to try to be, obviously, a little more conservative and just try to be more efficient in our operations.  Again, we’re trying to redirect our resources to do more on our pavements in the summer,” Niec explained.

Niec tells KTVO that they’re not cutting their budgets, but concentrating on how they’re allocating their resources.

“It’s basically just trying to manage our budgets, trying to be more efficient.  Trying to redirect resources to pavement maintenance in the summer time.  So, it’s really not so much a budget cut, but it’s just trying to spend the least amount possible on snow removal because you only see that benefit for a short period of time and redirect those resources into pavement repairs and pavement resurfacing in the summer where you see longer term benefits,” said Niec.

Niec says it’s MoDOT’s top priority to provide access to all communities and vital services. He says they never want to close any roads and make sure they’re at the very least passable.

For the latest road conditions in Missouri go to: http://www.modot.mo.gov/.