Beyond snow biz: Maine DOT seeks plow drivers for year-round maintenance work

Photo Courtesy / Maine Department of Transportation Maine Department of Transportation is looking for at least 100 more "snowfighters," or plow truck drivers, for year-round maintenance work.

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By Renee Cordes

Maine experiences 35 storm events during an average winter. It is not uncommon for MaineDOT snowfighters to plow more than 2 million miles of road every winter — the equivalent of four round trips between the Earth and the moon.
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In a bid to boost its ranks of road maintenance workers, the Maine Department of Transportation plans to put more ads on social media for "snowfighters," otherwise known as plow truck drivers.

While winter work involves plowing roads, the jobs are full-time, year-round positions rather than seasonal, according to Maine DOT spokesman Paul Merrill.

"These transportation workers do road maintenance all year long," he told Mainebiz.

Merrill said while the current staffing number is in the low 500s, ideally the department would like to be in the low 600s.

"We are ready for any normal winter storm," he said, "but as we look ahead, we know we're going to need more people on our team to effectively deal with back-to-back storms or a blizzard that lasts more than 36 hours."

While the starting pay is $17 an hour, statewide stipends mean that no one at Maine DOT is plowing snow for anything less than $19 an hour, Merrill said.

The agency's social media advertising plans come on top of increased pay stipends, competitive benefits and on-the-job training the department offers.

Similar to other public entities, MaineDOT said it has struggled to fill truck driver vacancies and retain desired levels of experienced plow drivers.

Specifically, the number of licensed truck drivers trained in snow operations is about 20% lower than would be optimal to cover all weather scenarios, the department said.

MaineDOT provides winter maintenance on 8,225 lane miles of roads that are divided into nearly 350 individual plow routes. More than 500 licensed truck drivers from 93 crew camps across the state stand ready to tackle winter weather events.

During an average winter, Maine experiences 35 storm events. It is not uncommon for MaineDOT snowflighters to plow more than 2 million miles of road every winter. That's the equivalent of traveling from the Earth to the moon and back again more than four times, according to the Maine DOT.