BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – Following severe flooding, Brown County Public Works will be taking advantage of sunshine this week to go around and clean-up roads.
All things considered, conditions are pretty good, according to Paul Fontecchio, Brown County Public Works Director.
Especially considering the worst case scenarios that seemed plausible on Friday.
“There was a number of bridges that I looked at and said, ‘Wow, there’s a fifty-fifty chance that bridge might not be there in a few days,’” says Fontecchio.
Crews were out early Saturday morning and Fontecchio says he personally was out and about at 4 a.m. inspecting a number of bridges and roadways in the county.
Less than twenty-four hours after severe flooding, he says it was far from perfect conditions and still plenty dangerous in some spots.
“There were ice chunks a foot thick that were twenty foot by thirty foot wide, that were like icebergs laying in the road” he explains. “That kind of stuff was interesting to see.”
Crews were clearing ice chunks and various debris out of the way the past couple of days, which has resulted in roadways that are now clear and passable.
While their work over the weekend wasn’t entirely focused on simply clearing debris, there also was some immediate patchwork needed on some stretches that got hit harder than others.
“I know Hoffman Road over County Road XX, between the East River and Bellevue Street, there was quite a bit of undermining and quite a bit of the road that washed away,” he explains.
In cases such as that, public works needed to direct their immediate attention to allocating the necessary resources to render repairs.
Because of that, some planned repairs and pothole operations are being pushed back to make room for more pressing needs.
“We have to look at the damage that occurred over the last couple days and now we have to reassess and reprioritize things,” says Fontecchio.
Also on their to-do list is getting around to some piping, which can take a few days to address.
“We have a few culvert pipes we need to replace, we’ll get on that as soon as we can,” he says.
Luckily, with sunny skies and mild temperatures forecasted this week it should be an opportunity for crews to get out in full force and patch-up roads to the best of their ability.
While their work isn’t done, Fontecchio says having motorists make their Monday commute along the East River without much trouble was a huge win.
“Now you drive through there this morning, the sun’s out, and you go, ‘Wow, this isn’t so bad,’” he says.
