MDOT losing experienced engineers
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The Mississippi Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining 30,000 lane miles of highway and 5,767 bridges at a time when one of the largest departments in state government doesn’t have experienced engineers.
Executive Director Melinda McGrath says the department is contracting out some work it used to do in-house because of a lack of experienced engineers.
The Clarion-Ledger reports the state lost two engineers last month to Fort Lauderdale and Texas.
McGrath says engineers are being hired away from MDOT to the private sector where they are being paid up to $150,000 a year.
