Oklahoma penalizes private firm for road snow removal efforts

So many people complained about road conditions after this weekendâ€™s snowstorm, that the state is penalizing the contractor, VMS. <br><br>News on Six reporter Emory Bryan says many drivers complained

Tuesday, March 5th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

So many people complained about road conditions after this weekendâ€™s snowstorm, that the state is penalizing the contractor, VMS.

News on Six reporter Emory Bryan says many drivers complained about the state of the roads - Sunday and Monday - well after the snow stopped falling. A private state contractor is supposed to clear the roads within 18 hours of a storm - but some were still snow packed Monday.

The company responsible for snow plowing is called VMS. They said they did the best they could - using 25 trucks to spread a thousand tons of salt and sand - but the state believes the job wasn't done as fast as it should have been.

Gary Evans, ODOT Acting Division Engineer, "Basically the standard is to have all lanes in Tulsa County cleared 18 hours after the last snow falls, and we felt like the storm was complete about 1 pm Saturday, they had 18 hours to get all lanes cleared and we don't feel like that happened.â€

The state penalizes the company by withholding part of their payment - but it amounts to just $2500 dollars. That's 1% of the quarter million dollars they're paid to maintain Tulsa's roads every month.