BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Before road crews can focus on Winter Storm Bennett, they need to finish cleaning up from Avree and the snow that fell Thursday morning. Part of that clean up is dealing with snow obstructing road signs and stoplights.
While road crews can plan for all types of snow storms, sometimes there are storms that bring extra challenges with them.
“I was traveling in the area and I almost ran the red light because it was snow covered and I didn’t realize it,” said Natalie Lasecki-Fishcer.
Pat Staszak said, “As I looked up at them I thought, ‘Boy, it’s really hard to tell which light is on and which light is off.'”
Almost 48 hours after Winter Storm Avree blew into Northeast Wisconsin, her remnants are still visible.
Dane Lasecki added, “You see people maybe slamming on their brakes at the intersection; people are crossing the streets maybe a little bit more apprehensively, because they can’t see if cars are stopping or whatnot. But yeah, it’s a little bit scary out there.”
That’s because some north facing traffic lights and road signs, that help direct southbound traffic, in Northeast Wisconsin are still covered in snow.
The way Avree blew into the region is the exact opposite of what public works officials like to see.
“Heavy, wet snow with high winds being driven directly out of the north — that’s one of our two conditions that we worry about the most, as far as being a perfect storm,” said Steve Grenier, Green Bay’s director of public works.
Because the LED bulbs in the traffic lights don’t burn hot enough to melt the snow, the City of Green Bay added full circular guards around the bulbs a few years ago to cut down on sun glare.
Grenier said, “Since I’ve been the director, we’ve had exactly three instances where we’ve had lights blocked by snow blowing from a north wind. So three times in 11 years versus every day in the summer, being able to see the southbound indicators — that’s a pretty good trade off.”
Road crews were sent out to check lights on Thursday and when necessary, they were cleaned off. With more blowing snow followed by frigid temperatures in the forecast, Mother Nature won’t take care of business on her own.
According to Lasecki-Fischer, “Thank God the sun is out today for that. You have to be more careful more when it’s wintertime — we have to be more cautious of the roads and the lights, the stop signs, all of it.”
With the winds coming in and Winter Storm Bennett expected to make conditions treacherous, power outages at intersections might become an issue. Officials are advising drivers to treat snow blocked lights or ones that aren’t working like four way stops.
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