As Missourians shovel out from under this week’s massive snowfall, the state transportation department has a big bill to pay.

MoDOT spent $5.5 millon, said a spokesman, Jorma Duran. That estimate includes the more than 40,000 hours of overtime labor and the 20,000 tons of salt used during the storm, he said.

Duran said the amount of salt used during the historic storm only accounts for 10 percent of the department’s annual salt supply.

“There’s never going to be a time where MoDOT says, ‘We’ve got to stop our winter operations because of money,'” he said. “We want to make sure that the motorists are safe out there. So, if it costs however much it costs it’s what it is.”

– Missouri Digital News