Mo. governor orders state to help plow local roads

? With most of Missouri’s interstates and highways clear of snow, Gov. Jay Nixon ordered state workers on Friday to help counties plow local roads.

The storm that hit Missouri earlier this week dumped up to 21 inches of snow in some parts of the state and freezing rain in other areas. Even with local governments sending out their plows, hundreds of local roads remained covered with feet of snow four days later.

The Missouri Department of Transportation usually only clears interstates and state and federal highways, but Nixon said he was taking “an unprecedented action” and ordering the department to help plow roads in 44 counties that had received record snowfalls.

“Many Missouri counties and cities need our help,” Nixon said. “We’ll do everything we can to return road conditions to normal, so vital health care, education and commerce can resume throughout Missouri.”

Many small towns have no way to plow their streets, with just a few hundred people and no municipal workers, said Richard Sheets, deputy director of the Missouri Municipal League. Some communities have hired private contractors to do the job, but Sheets said paying for contractors and road salt will be difficult when local budgets are already thin.

“They have to have a balanced budget, so they’re going to have to take it out of something else,” Sheets said. “They’re really struggling because they might not have the equipment or the personnel for something like this.”