The South Dakota Department of Transportation is evaluating its performance amid criticism that it was slow to react to ground blizzard conditions in Roberts County Wednesday night that eventually led to closing Interstate 29. Greg Fuller is the D-O-T’s Director of Operations. He says the Interstate wasn’t officially closed until around six a-m Thursday morning, even though motorists had been reporting white-out conditions to dispatchers eight hours earlier….
[audio:http://prprt.itmwpb.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/688/2011/02/FULLER1.mp3|titles=FULLER1]Should the Interstate have been closed sooner???
[audio:http://prprt.itmwpb.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/688/2011/02/FULLER2.mp3|titles=FULLER2]Even though just a seven-mile stretch of I-29 was crippled by the white-out, the D-O-T closed a 75-mile stretch of the Interstate, from Watertown to the North Dakota line…..
[audio:http://prprt.itmwpb.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/688/2011/02/FULLER3.mp3|titles=FULLER3]Fuller says with all the snow on the ground, even a moderate wind will cause problems….
[audio:http://prprt.itmwpb.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/688/2011/02/FULLER4.mp3|titles=FULLER4](courtesy KWAT, Watertown)