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As Ohio heads into winter weather, the Department of Transportation is aiming to onboard hundreds of snowplow drivers.
ODOT needs about 500 seasonal operators statewide, and District 6 Public Information Officer Brooke Ebersole told Columbus-based WBNS that “we’re about maybe 80% there,” around the state’s capital. Still, it’s “no secret that there is a shortage of CDL drivers across the board here in Ohio, and across the country. The school bus industry is feeling it, the semi-trucking industry is feeling it and ODOT is no exception to that.”
Snowplow drivers will be key when winter weather is in full swing this season. Earlier this year, the Farmers Almanac predicted a “winter whopper” in its 2021-2022 extended weather forecast. “The Great Lakes, Midwest, and Ohio Valley will have more than their fair share of cold and flaky weather in January,” the Farmers Almanac prediction stated, adding: “We’re forecasting a ‘winter whopper’ for parts of the Northeast and Ohio Valley toward the end of February…March will see close to normal precipitation nationwide. But in a sense, March will be a microcosm of the entire winter. From start to finish, the month will be full of stretches of uneventful weather, but when it turns stormy, the precipitation will come in big doses.”
Anyone up to the task of clearing the roads during winter weather can apply to work for The Ohio Department of Transportation here.