JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri Department of Transportation has won a national award for safety and has been recognized by Gov. Matt Blunt for innovative practices.

  The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials presented MoDOT with its 2007 Safety Leadership Award for the agency's efforts to reduce highway deaths.  Missouri had the largest drop in traffic-related fatalities in 2006 of any state in the nation - down by 161 compared to 2005. 

  AASHTO cited the department's work to develop a comprehensive highway safety plan, called Missouri's Blueprint for Safer Roadways, to reduce highway deaths.  As part of the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, MoDOT works with numerous safety partners to implement the Blueprint's educational, engineering and enforcement strategies. 

  Gov. Matt Blunt recently recognized the department with the prestigious Governor's Award for Quality and Productivity for developing a snowplow that is able to clear two lanes of pavement with only one truck.  Called the TowPLow, the machine is the brainchild of a MoDOT employee who applied his knowledge of farm equipment to snowplows.  MoDOT then worked with snowplow contractor Viking Cives to finetune the design and build the TowPLow, which essentially does the work of two trucks but requires only one driver.  There are now more than a dozen TowPLows in service in the state.

Editor's note:  A photo of the TowPLow in action can be found at www.modot.org/newsroom.