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The last couple of days we've been telling you about the fiscal challenges facing the Missouri Department of Transportation.

MODOT isn't immune to the current economic times. While funding for infrastructure improvements is dwindling, MODOT is also facing the same belt tightening challenges we all are.

KHQA dug deeper to find out what MODOT is doing to stay fiscally responsible while providing safe roads for you.

What is MODot doing to prepare for this?

MODOT's Northeast District Engineer Paula Gough said, "MODOT has not just started to prepare for this. We knew for a while we'd be moving from working on major projects like the Avenue of the Saints to maintenance type of projects and resurfacing of roads and bridge projects."

Gough says that outlook helped changed the way engineers design. Engineers used to use standard templates for projects. But now engineers are creating innovative solutions based on the area's needs.

Gough said, "A good example is the thickness on a highway shoulder. A standard in the past we've built 10 inches no matter that the traffic was. Now we may reduce it down to 4 or 5 inches. We do the engineering to make sure it will hold up and serve the public well and not over build for what is needed."

Another cost-cutting mechanism can be found in sharing employee talents from district to district.

A good example of this is the current construction on the Highway 36 project. This piece of the highway between Shelbina and Macon is technically inside MODOT's Northeast District headquartered in Hannibal. But since this piece of the project is so close to MODOT's Macon office, crews *there* are overseeing construction on the last 26 miles of highway, saving gas and time for crews.

Diminishing funds for road construction means more emphasis on maintenance projects. And that means less need for engineers and a greater need for meaintenance crews. Through attrition Gough says MODOT is restructuring its workforce to get the right people where they are needed most.

MODOT's other cost cutting measures aren't unlike what you do at home. There's an emphasis on turning lights off and water heaters down while both office and traffic lights are now lit with high efficiency bulbs. Out in the field MODOT is mixing is salt with cinders to help the product go further and timers have been installed on MODOT trucks to cut idling time.

Gough said, "We can't control how much money MODOT received but we can control how we spend that money to ensure we're using money as efficiently and as wisely as possible."

MODOT is also trying out a beet juice substance to activate the salt on the roadways.  Officials say the substance makes salt 80 percent more efficient so expensive salt goes much further.