Report: Shortage Of Snowplow Drivers Could Make Winter Travel More Difficult

Winter travelers could face significantly worse road conditions and further delays across the country because of a shortage of snowplow truck drivers.

“States from Washington to Pennsylvania, including Montana and Wyoming in the Rocky Mountains, are having trouble finding enough people willing” to take the jobs, The Associated Press reports. Snowplow drivers are paid comparatively low salaries, driving the trucks requires a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), and the job requires working in dangerous conditions at odd hours of the day, usually early in the morning or late at night.

“We want the traveling public to understand why it could take longer this season to clear highways during winter storms,” Jon Swartz, the maintenance administrator for the Montana Department of Transportation, told the AP. “Knowing this helps motorists to plan ahead and adjust or even delay travel plans.” The AP reports that the Montana DOT said it is short 90 drivers.

Several state DOT heads told the AP that there are many reasons for the shortage: the workforce is aging, with a lack of new drivers to supplement the losses; there is a high demand for CDL drivers and diesel mechanics in other industry sectors; an incredibly low labor force participation rate, including a shortage of about 3.6 million workers across the economy with no one to fill them, as The Daily Wire previously reported; and competition with private companies, who are more fluid and able to offer incentives like bonuses and pay increases than state agencies, whose salaries are controlled by state legislators. – READ MORE