Illinois DOT to curtail roadkill pickup

By Kartikay Mehrotra | Friday, May 16, 2008

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois transportation department won’t make highway drivers swerve around deer carcasses.

But the agency says if it doesn’t get more money soon, motorists could have some smaller furry friends to avoid on state roads and interstates.

Saying the department is maxed out on its spending for the current fiscal year, a spokesman confirmed Friday that the agency is curtailing the cleanup of road kill for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

“At this point, we’re just focused on stuff that would affect people’s line of sight,” Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey said. “But if there’s a deer carcass in the road, we’ll clean it up. That is a line of sight issue.”

Claffey said the department is hardly immune to the skyrocketing cost of fuel, which forced IDOT to spend $46 million over its state appropriation this year. So far, the department has spent $86 million.

To save money, all IDOT personnel, “even high-ranking officials” are driving their personal cars for work without compensation, instead of driving state-owned vehicles, Claffey said.

“We’re taking drastic measures to conserve fuel,” Claffey said. “Until we do get some more funding, we’ll just try to scrape by until the end of the fiscal year.”

The House has approved a measure for $20.1 million in additional spending. The Senate could consider it next week when it reconvenes on Tuesday.

“In the end, we think something’s going to have to happen,” Claffey said. “We certainly hope it’ll be taken care of in the near future.”

Kartikay Mehrotra may be contacted at (217) 789-0865 or via e-mail at Kartikay.mehrotra@lee.net.