Minnesota Department of Transportation

511 Travel Info

Maintaining Minnesota's Highways

Winter Maintenance Report

2024-25 at a glance

30,304 Lane Miles $ 121.6 Million 36.4" State Snowfall Average 148 Truck Stations 800+ Plow Trucks 89% Frequency Achieving Bare Lanes Total Cost of Winter 1,716 Full-time and Backup Snowfighters 141,489 Tons of Salt 12,286,653 Gallons of Brine 14,923 Tons of Sand

This section shows the two-year comparison of several key areas, including weather, materials used, cost and labor. The winter of 2024-25 was below average in most categories.  

Two-year comparison

Category Measure 2023-24 2024-25
Infrastructure Lane miles 30,309 miles 30,304 miles
Weather Snowfall, near MSP Airport
(Based on MnDOT Maintenance Decision Support System)
20.8 inches 28.2 inches
Weather Snowfall, statewide across districts
(Based on MnDOT Maintenance Decision Support System)
23.5 inches 36.4 inches
Weather Number of winter events, statewide average 13.7 events 16.4 events
Materials Salt used 114,155 tons 141,489 tons
Materials Average cost of salt per ton $94.32 $98.11
Materials Salt brine used 9.8 million gallons 12.3 million gallons
Materials Sand used 11,058 tons 14,923 tons
Costs and Performance

Total plowing and materials costs

(Based on fiscal year)

$93 million $121.6 million
Costs and Performance Total plowing and materials costs per lane mile, statewide average $3,068 $4,012
Costs and Performance Frequency of achieving bare lane after winter event
(70% target)
89% 89%
Labor and Services Regular labor hours 357,495 hours 420,774 hours
Labor and Services
(Business Intelligence data)
Overtime winter labor hours 74,667 hours 94,452 hours

2024-25 average district snowfall

D1 55.4" D2 38.4" D3 44.9" D4 42.9" METRO 30.1" D6 25.7" D7 21.6" D8 32.2"

Official weather reporting station snowfall

Year Near MSP Airport Statewide Average
2024-25 28.2 inches 36.4 inches
2023-24 20.8 inches 23.5 inches
2022-23 92.8 inches 90.2 inches
2021-22 47.3 inches 63 inches
2020-21 59.2 inches 53 inches

MnDOT uses a Winter Severity Index to simplify the comparison from year to year. Each district uses the same factors to calculate a single relative number. Factors include dewpoint, humidity, wind speed & gusts, precipitation type, frost, road & air temperatures, cloud cover, blowing snow and surface pressure.

Winter Severity Index by district for past five years

District 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
District 1 101 177 210 99 110
District 2 91 167 152 85 93
District 3 86 130 173 64 82

District 4

84 152 166 64 89
Metro District 74 101 157 46 42
District 6 70 94 142 50 49
District 7 77 75 121 51 45
District 8 79 90 139 58 50
Statewide 86 138 164 72 80

Average salt usage by district for past five years

in thousands of tons

District 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
District 1 19.1 32.1 37.7 17 21.7
District 2 9.8 11.6 15.1 12 11.8
District 3 22.1 29 44.8 20.3 21.1
District 4 9.9 10.8 16.4 7.7 9.3
Metro District 51.6 61 71.3 24.5 36.3
District 6 25.5 25.7 39.5 17.1 22.4
District 7 12 9.6 19.6 8.5 11.3
District 8 9.4 9.8 15.9 7 7.6
Statewide 159.3 189.5 260.4 114.2 141.5

Average liquid usage by district for past five years

in thousands of gallons

District 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
District 1 619.2 1,022.2 1,644.5 1,545.6 1,878.9
District 2 219.5 234.4 432.8 633.2 567.8
District 3 833.5 1,172.2 2,470.7 1,621.1 1,909
District 4 1,856.0 1,897.5 2,983.8 1,661.4 1,878.5
Metro District 821.0 1,154.6 1,997.2 1,487.1 1,957.8
District 6 839.4 935.1 1,752.0 1,223.5 2,010.9
District 7 1,171.7 1,263.9 1,993.8 1,010.6 1,323.2
District 8 234.0 417.7 869.5 573.5 760.5
Statewide 6,594.3 8,097.5 14,144.4 9,756.1 12,286.7

Average sand usage by district for past five years

in thousands of tons

District 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
District 1 6.2 12.2 16.5 4.1 6.1
District 2 2.8 6.9 5.9 4.1 4.1
District 3 1.3 1.1 2.2 0.2 1.1
District 4 2.1 5.6 3.7 0.7 2.9
Metro District 0.7 1 4.5 1 0.1
District 6 3 0.2 0 0 0
District 7 0.5 0.9 1.8 0.6 0.3
District 8 1.5 1.2 1.8 0.3 0.4
Statewide 18.1 29.1 36.4 11.1 14.9

Snow and ice expenditures were about 31%, or $28.6 million, more than the previous winter. A total of $121.6 million was spent on materials, labor and equipment in 2024-25.

$ 28.6 million more than 2023-24

Total spent for snow and ice control compared to winter severity

includes materials, labor and equipment

Year Cost Severity
2024-25 $121,600,000 80
2023-24 $93,000,000 72
2022-23 $174,000,000 164
2021-22 $148,000,000 138
2020-21 $116,000,000 86


$ 8.9 million less than 5-year average spent in 2024-25

Historical snow and ice expenditures trend

District 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 Five-year average
District 1 $12,948,000 $20,545,000 $22,053,000 $13,890,000 $17,589,000

$17,245,000

District 2 $7,525,000 $13,252,000 $13,343,000  $9,159,000 $11,142,000 $10,884,000
District 3 $13,683,000 $18,904,000 $23,380,000 $12,618,000 $16,176,000 $16,952,000
District 4 $10,974,000 $16,478,000 $19,127,000 $9,993,000 $12,423,000 $13,799,000
Metro District $32,544,000 $42,120,000 $44,377,000 $19,086,000 $27,821,000 $33,190,000
District 6 $14,850,000 $14,155,000 $20,198,000 $11,096,000 $13,803,000 $14,820,000
District 7 $11,356,000 $10,953,000 $14,760,000 $8,487,000 $13,950,000 $11,901,000
District 8 $7,755,000 $8,575,000 $13,342,000 $5,985,000 $6,714,000 $8,474,000
Other $4,281,000 $2,835,000 $3,373,000 $3,489,000 $1,952,000 $3,186,000
Statewide $115,858,000 $147,816,000 $173,953,000 $93,003,000 $121,571,000 $130,452,000


$ 3.79 /ton more than 2023-24

Salt costs - based on fiscal year

Average per ton

Year Cost
2024-25 $98.11
2023-24 $94.32
2022-23 $86.31
2021-22 $77.87
2020-21 $75.45

MnDOT met its overall performance target for the 2024-25 winter season. MnDOT has met or exceeded the 70% target the past 10 years. MnDOT worked to reduce road salt use on roadways and invested in updates to our systems and technologies. Bare lane regain time is measured from the time a winter event ends to when MnDOT’s snow and ice operations regain bare lane driving conditions. The target for this measure varies by road classification, ranging from 0 to 3 hours for the state’s most heavily traveled roadways to 9 to 36 hours for the least traveled secondary roads.

Frequency of meeting bare lane targets

Cost in millions from Business Intelligence

23.3" 2022-23 90.2" 84% $174 87% 2020-21 53.0" 2021-22 63.0" 84% $148 $116 Costs of winter season (in millions) Statewide snowfall average (MDSS) Frequency 2023-24 89% $93 36.4" 2024-25 89% $121.6