The Southern

The freezing cold weather of the winter months is a main factor in why some roadkill will have to bake in the summer sun.

The Illinois Department of Transportation will limit the amount of dead animals it removes from the side of highways because of an expensive winter, District 9 operating engineer Kevin Grammer said.

The department had $40 million budgeted for snow and ice removal for the winter and ended up spending $86 million because of weather that coated the region in ice. With rising fuel costs, Grammer said the budget shortfalls are forcing IDOT to limit the number of carcasses it picks up.

"Having shortfalls in the budget and with rising fuel prices, those are compounded," Grammer said.

Grammer said workers are not just going to leave behind every unlucky quadruped that doesn't look before crossing the street.

"If an animal is in the road and a hazard to a motorist and the public, we'll pick it up," Grammer said.

Kevin Gillespie, director of environmental health at the Jackson County Health Department, said that despite the smell and gruesome appearance, the IDOT action shouldn't lead to any health risks. He said there would be a health risk if the sides of the highways are littered with corpses or if a disease such as avian flu was running rampant in the region. He said cause of death is a major factor in determining if the carcass is an environmental hazard; since most of the animals on the side of the road have just lost a battle with a massive vehicle traveling 55 to 65 miles per hour, the risk of disease should not be high.

Gillespie said the Health Department would not be likely to take action to clean up animals that were not lucky enough to die in the middle of the road.

"In terms of every single dead animal, I don't think there is anything we would do as far as disposal," Gillespie said.

While IDOT and the health departments may not always clean house these days, Gillespie said there are other forces at work that can tidy things up a bit. He said there are plenty of scavenger species in the region that would be glad to clean the sides of the roads for motorists.

"Nature kind of takes care of itself," Gillespie said.

codell.rodriguez@thesouthern.com

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