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Illinois Department of Transportation ready
for winter storms
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Full complement of drivers and equipment on
standby
[DEC. 13, 2003]
SPRINGFIELD --
Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Timothy W. Martin
announced Thursday that members of the department's snow-fighting
team and their equipment are prepared and standing by to clear state
highways when called upon.
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Martin also noted that a new
hiring practice for snowplow drivers will mean a more experienced
and higher quality team than in years past.
"Even though last year's early
retirement meant the loss of some very experienced plow drivers, I
can assure you, the men and women who make up IDOT's snow-fighting
team are ready to meet any challenge that faces them," Martin said.
"We've made changes to how we make new hires for plow drivers --
changes that I know will mean a better overall team, drawing from
more diverse experiences that will serve the public well."
Of the approximately 2,000
highway maintainers the department is budgeted for, 470 took
advantage of the early retirement incentive and 365 replacements
have been hired. The department also has 670 full-time temporary
employees hired for the snowplowing season, with approximately 800
"snowbirds" hired for an as-needed, on-call hourly basis. This
brings the total IDOT snow-fighting team to approximately 3,500
employees and 1,500 pieces of equipment.
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"Governor Blagojevich has made
it clear that he wants us to do everything within our ability to
make the roads as safe as possible this winter, and that means
changing the way we do business," Martin said. "We've changed the
hiring process for our plow drivers to create a bigger pool of
candidates, which is resulting in higher quality employees."
Previous hiring practices for IDOT plow drivers dictated that people
who worked for IDOT the previous year during the snow and ice season
were automatically rehired. This process was based on a scoring
system that almost exclusively relied on previous IDOT experience,
limiting the pool of candidates. The new IDOT scoring system, put in
place this year, takes into account outside experience drivers may
have. That is resulting in a larger pool of skillful applicants,
from which the department may hire the most highly qualified.
[Illinois
Department of Transportation news release]
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