AUGUSTA (NEWS CENTER Maine)-- The Maine Department of Transportation snow plows hit the road early Tuesday morning as the snow started to fall. However, the DOT says their number of drivers statewide is down, and they're actively trying to close the gap.
During statewide snow storms, the DOT sends out about 350 plow trucks which they staff with two people each to alternate every few hours. At the start of 2017, the department had 90 openings for plow truck drivers. This season, nearly 40 of those vacancies have been filled, but it takes up to six months to become fully certified. This forced the department to hire contract workers to help clear snow from the highways.
The director of maintenance and operations says lack of plow truck drivers is an issue nationwide, and a reason could be a cultural shift combined with the instability of when the snow falls.
“It's not scheduled, it can be on Christmas, New Year’s,” Director Dale Doughty explains. “A lot of people are migrating to other professions. With all those shortages, there's just a lot of vacancies, people can migrate to- based on their lifestyle- migrate to those.”
Brody Robbins has felt the strain first hand. Robbins has been driving plows for MDOT for three years. His longest shift was more than 30 hours.
“It makes it rough sometimes,” Robbins says of the shortage. “Just because we have to do longer shifts and there's a lot of training and inexperience.”
Many of those who train with the MDOT leave and go to private plow companies where they can earn more in starting salary than at the DOT, even though the department says pay bumps are quick.
Doughty is hoping to better advertise the state benefits a position at the DOT comes with to attract a younger generation of plow truck operators.