Mississippi Department of Transportation Commissioner Bradley White and Fox 13 Memphis are having a little disagreement. Fox 13 reported:
Mississippi state leaders spoke out Thursday on what went wrong after two interstates in northern Mississippi and at least one state highway had to shut down for the better part of three days. MDOT Executive Director Brad White said pre-treatment went as planned but admitted to messing up after sending personnel and resources to other counties. By the time the agency moved those resources back to the interstates, it was all ice.
The Executive Director did not take too kindly to the news story and fired back with a response:
“Sadly, this news outlet is wrong about me saying we made a mistake sending resources to all affected areas of the state. I don’t regret sending crews to the Delta and NE MS. They deserved help too. And, by the way, crews were never pulled from I55 nor I22 in north MS.As of last night, MDOT has nearly 400 of our team members without power, and in some cases water. Yet, they’ve been on the roads and bridges working nonstop to get them open so people from the Mississippi River to the Alabama line could have access to emergency services as well as allowing power companies to get to the impacted areas. I will never be able to say enough how proud I am of our people. They represent all that’s good about public service.
33 comments:
Watch the videos on social media showing clips of people driving on 55 from Memphis into MS. Clear as day, right at the state line it goes from properly prepared clear road to an epic screwup of totally iced over road. Did he go up there to help or stay here for more TV time?
At this point how can he do anything but get in the way?
Before he was named Executive Director of MDOT, Brad White served as an assistance to a member of the Transportation Commission (20 years ago). So I'm sure he was qualified for the job.
https://mississippitoday.org/2021/06/02/brad-white-hired-as-mdot-director/
I guess they need KF to work as their pedantic gatekeeper so they always get their facts straight about the governor’s man at MDOT
Put lackeys in high places. This is what you get.
Brad's only qual for the job was Exec. Dir. of the Mississippi Republican Party. And he was COS for Tater. Two months into the job, he was asked on SuperTalk the cost of one mile of highway. He admitted he had no idea. Further, he had no knowledge of any of the facts one must know to be MDOT Director.
... people driving on 55 from Memphis into MS. Clear as day, right at the state line ...
You comment demonstrates a significant amount of ignorance as to how the weather event unfolded.
It was obvious the wrong captains were in the wheelhouse or a grounded ship.
From the Governor to the MDOT head to the general who spoke at news conferences...All were plagued by guesswork and uncertainty. It became commonplace for all of them to recite the same scripted mantra, "We planned early and were ready and executed at the right time", although by the time a play was called and the team was on the field, it was a bit late and by then sleet had turned to black ice covered in more sleet and more black ice, and two hundred 18 wheelers were stopped dead by impassable interstates.
For the head of MDOT to whine, now, about how many MDOT employees were without power and water is a total cop out and desire for sympathy and emotion. Every MDOT piece of relevant equipment and personnel to operate that equipment should have already been sent north, staged and cranked up. Waiting for all this crap to turn to slush after temps rose is inexcusable.
If this were all private sector, many heads would already have rolled.
This is what you get when you put a token Republican political appointee as the head of this agency. He’s not an engineer…not even close to being an engineer. He’s a talking suit without experience in this field. No Republican koolaide drinker wants to acknowledge this fact. So, enjoy the mess that we now have (but keep drinking the kool aide and making the donations).
The Peter Principle at work!
MDOT might not be ready for this storm but they're learning.
“Sadly, this news outlet is wrong about me saying we made a mistake "
A good lackey never admits to making a mistake, as admitting a mistake tends to discredit the person who put the lackey in a position of power.
How many equipment operators and mechanics is MDOT short today? Hopefully the storm response isn't affected by not enough employees.
Same principle happening at the fed level. Appointments sycophants to head positions, chaos ensues and the people suffer.
Will be interesting to seek the emails of MDOT officials (including Mr. White) before, during, and after the storm.
I think it’s pretty obvious that if I-55 was covered with a sheet of ice for 3-4 DAYS that something dramatically went wrong in MDOT’s response. Interstates, then major highways, then other highways, then other roads and bridges — that should be the other of clearing ice.
They thought it would melt. Thermals mass is a hell of a thing.
The “Monday morning quarterbacks” are out in force. Hiding behind keyboards while they bang away at the keys as if they are mighty warriors. Go ahead “warriors” and be big and tough social media combatants. Feed off of one another and blow the internet up with your bravery. Y’all are poor excuses for human beings.
Will be interesting to seek the emails of MDOT officials (including Mr. White) before, during, and after the storm.
Imagine if KF actually did that and published it. He would never sell another ad to a state government agency!
Not gonna happen! Not on this gossip blog! He only targets black politicians that hard!
Look at all of the Monday morning QBs up in here like you would’ve been done different. I don’t know anything about but what I can read. I guess if the state focused it all on I55 and Fern instead smoked Tupelo and Corinth yall would be saying the same thing. It’s a weather disaster so disastrous things happen. That’s why they call it that.
I think the lack of knowledgeable leadership w/in MDOT has been showing itself for sometime now. While ice is a unique challenge, we knew it was coming and did not act correctly. This guy needs to step down
There's always at least one "Mission Accomplished" media event to gaslight the public that things are really great.
To be fair, the ice was always going to melt if you wait for warmer temperatures.
They just didn't properly account for the costs to the public and businesses of having the highway system shut down for days in today's Just-In-Time world.
Or the political costs to the bozos making the bad decisions.
All the highways and raods weren't going to be kept open, but the most important ones should have been.
His predecessor was an engineer. Remember the big screwups with 49 and 55? What did those cost to fix?
I'm a lifelong republican and I agree (at least in part). He has no business running this massive operation called MDOT. Zero experience.
Im guessing that wasMDOT of the 60s/70s that allowed HWY to be laid over the soil without proper impact testing? Superior Asphalt had to take over the jobs and excavate and replace miles and miles of Yazoo clay. People with fill dirt and dump trucks really made some money cuz they was running non stop.
The 2 interstates shut down on the maps over 3 days clearly shows them shut down at the alabama and Tennessee state lines. Sorry for the supercuck crowd but there are elderly people freezing in homes. Failure!! MDOT north Mississippi director say sorry we do best we can. Meemaw freezes in that single wide. Guv gets himself a free helicopter ride. CoC is at Camp McCain 3 hours south of the front line
@KF
His predecessor was a woman engineer and she made a fool of herself more than once.
I’m not saying a male engineer can’t make a fool of himself. But MDOT is full of qualified engineers more than capable of leading. But Melinda McGrath was a political choice and so was Brad White.
Identify yourself and state your branch of government and position.
The Director who was an habitual drunk who fell asleep at a casino slot machine...What would he have done had you been able to wake him up?
The same buffoon who, when the new DOT Taj Mahal was built, would not include office space for Dick Hall. How long was that principle of Peter at the wheel and what would he have done?
And on a related note, you can stand by and watch the same level of incompetence and negligence taking place over at MDWFP with that old political hack, Posey, now in charge. Or we can think back to Amy Tuck and Her Truck, when, as Lt. Governor, put her brother in charge of MDWFP.
Did someone mention a governor or two appointing our Federal Senators?
Until you have walked in the shoes of first responders & their support staffs you should be a bit less critical & maybe volunteer to be a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem.
1:30, This is off-topic. But, am I the only one who noticed that, when a good cold front comes through, MDWFP stops putting out waterfowl reports?
It's almost like they all take off and go hunting, instead of doing their jobs to serve the hunting public. Then they come back with some BS excuses about weather delays.
Friendly reminder that MDOT subs out it's asphalt and road and bridge work. Sounds good until you realize the pool of contractors is only about 3 or 4 companies that they approve.
I'm a lifelong republican ...
Appeals to authority don't work here.
I know Mr. White. He has spent his entire adult life as a competent administrator in every position he has held. This was a historic ice storm in north MS. Ole Miss was shut down for a week. Perhaps, the The naysayers should cut him some slack.
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