Highway agency says it's on track for winter

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RICK MCFARLAND  --11/26/14--   Reggie Veasley, a mechanic, checks the connection between a new dump truck and it's 12-foot wide snow plow at the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department maintenance facility in Little Rock Wednesday. The new trucks are bigger and have a belly-plow on them.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RICK MCFARLAND --11/26/14-- Reggie Veasley, a mechanic, checks the connection between a new dump truck and it's 12-foot wide snow plow at the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department maintenance facility in Little Rock Wednesday. The new trucks are bigger and have a belly-plow on them.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department still is augmenting its equipment and personnel to combat snow and ice, but the agency says it's on track to be better prepared than last winter.

The department has doubled the number of "belly-plow" trucks in its fleet with nearly another dozen on order, Danny Straessle, an agency spokesman, said in an interview last week.

The belly-plow trucks carry larger payloads and, with the additional plow underneath their bodies, are more effective at removing snow and ice from roadways than the conventional dump trucks the agency regularly employs.

After the department's tepid response to last winter's snow and ice, which drew criticism from the governor and several legislators, senior agency officials also pledged to beef up its maintenance personnel with an additional 200 employees spread among the maintenance crews stationed in its 10 districts around the state.

By the first week of November, 184 positions still needed to be filled, according to Randy Ort, another department spokesman. But 117 positions are in the process of being filled, ranging from being advertised to employment offers pending, he said.

Meanwhile, a new weather forecasting service went online Nov. 1. The service will deliver detailed weather information directly to department personnel, who previously relied on the National Weather Service and media forecasters. The department also is well on its way to filling an order for 12,000 tons of salt treated with beet juice at a cost of more than $1.2 million.

"It's still a work in progress," Ort said in an interview last week. "But we're improving our manpower, improving the age and ability of our equipment, and we have additional supplies and places to store them.

"Yes, I think we're farther ahead of where we were this time last year."

The effort is expected to cost an additional $18 million annually for the fiscal year that began July 1 and reflects not only an increased emphasis on responding to snow and ice but also a renewed focus on maintenance in general. The boost in manpower, equipment and material means less for construction.

The new budget was prepared after an unusually harsh winter during which traffic on major corridors ground to a halt and the department's handling of the ice and snow provoked rare criticism from Gov. Mike Beebe and others.

The 200 new hires are expected to cost the department $5.8 million this year.

The state has about 85 maintenance crews with 12 to 18 people in each crew. As a cost-saving measure, the crew complement has been limited to 85 percent of the recommended level for about 10 years. With the addition of the new employees, the crews will be at 90 percent of recommended staffing levels.

But the department has had some trouble filling the slots, especially in District 6 covering six counties in central Arkansas: Garland, Hot Spring, Lonoke, Prairie, Pulaski and Saline. Needing to fill 37 positions in the district, the agency turned to a job fair one Friday last month.

Nearly 838 people showed up and 616 people were interviewed. Of those interviewed, about 300 remained "good prospects," according to Ort. After checking references and previous employers, the department extended conditional offers to 37 people. If they accept, they must pass a physical and drug screen before they are hired.

"We're very pleased with the results," Ort said.

So pleased, the department is looking at putting on another job fair with some modifications elsewhere in the state, he said.

The new trucks also will help. In addition to being fitted with a belly plow, they can remain on the job longer because of the larger payloads they haul, Straessle said. Each of them can carry 10.5 cubic yards of salt or other material when equipped with a spreader. The regular trucks carry 4.5 cubic yards or 7.5 cubic yards.

The department had just a half-dozen belly-plow trucks as 2014 began, with four assigned to a district in Northwest Arkansas and one in central Arkansas. Another one is in District 10 in northeast Arkansas.

The department already has four more stationed in central Arkansas as part of a "strike force" that will eventually reach a dozen. They are assigned to the state's maintenance division to be deployed wherever needed.

Two of the new trucks are already outfitted with plows and spreaders, two more are in the process of being outfitted and two more are expected to be delivered this week, according to Straessle.

Outside of winter, the trucks will be available for the department's 10 maintenance districts "to rent" for regular maintenance work, he said.

Metro on 12/01/2014

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