GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – “We call them the usual suspects, if you will,” says Chris Pirlot, Operations Director with Green Bay Public Works.
He’s talking about the different spots around Green Bay that are particularly susceptible to flooding and will take close monitoring to avoid problems this week.
Potential flooding is a concern this week because of rising temperatures that will work to melt snow and when paired with forecasted rain could create a lot of water on the roads.
The sudden warm-up has crews adjusting their workload from fighting snow to ensuring that water will be draining properly.
Yet even with the shift in focus, it’s not a guarantee that every street will be addressed.
“Well the city of Green Bay has approximately 15,000 stormwater inlets, so we can never, unfortunately, get to all of them, but we know where the most critical areas are,” he explains.
Because of that, the department is looking for a little help from homeowners.
“To, for a lack of a better term, adopt that inlet, because it’s going to help them as much as their neighbors,” explains Pirlot.
Often times, due to lack of resources, it’s the residential streets and neighborhoods that get overlooked.
He says if an inlet isn’t properly exposed it can prove disastrous for a neighborhood, with the potential of water creeping towards homes and standing water on streets creating hazardous driving conditions.
The change of focus on such little notice is something the department is used too.
“We go from winter season to ice clearing into pothole season,” he explains. “And then we get [to] spring.”
On the topic of potholes, crews will look to ramp up efforts this week as warmer temperatures act to dissolve ice and make road treatment easier.
“If there are really bad potholes we’re not going to say, ‘Oh, that has to wait three weeks until the conditions are right,’” he says. “No, we’re going to need to address that, even if it’s for a short period of time.”
It’s easier to conduct road treatment in dry conditions, but crews can still clear debris and complete short-term work more easily in the absence of snow and ice.
Pirlot pointed to Shawano Avenue as one stretch of roadway that they have on their radar to address and allocate resources for road work.
