JOPLIN, Mo. — Many MoDOT crews have been keeping a close eye on road conditions since early yesterday morning.

We spoke with MoDOT District Maintenance Engineer, Darin Hamelink, today — who says crews are currently putting a focus on cleaning up intersections, passing lanes, and turn lanes on places like Range Line Road and 7th Street in Joplin.

They’re also working to clear rural roads like Highways 37 and 60 with plows and ice-clearing products. But — depending on how cold it is — those products don’t always work.

“And if it’s not sticking, if the precips not sticking to the road, we can just plow it off and kind of let the cold temperatures help us when we can. And we did have some routes that were clear because of that, and we had other ones that it stuck down on us, and we just weren’t able to get it off,” said Hamelink.

Hamelink also says they had 4 trucks rear-ended yesterday, resulting in one worker being injured.

Drivers are reminded to not follow those trucks too closely.

MoDOT also has an online travel map, which stays up-to-date with road conditions. You can check that out by following this link here.