Brown County Snowplow
BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) — The Brown County Highway Department is busy in winter; keeping the roads free of snow and ice. However, Brown County Highway Commissioner, Paul Fontecchio, said the big snowstorms are easier than the smaller ones.
“The big storms are easy. You see them marching across the state and you know you’re going to get 4-6 inches of snow. Those are easy to plan for,” said Fontecchio. “It’s the little pop-up things that happen that there’s really no prediction for.”
Highways like I-41, I-43, and WIS 172 have 24 hour routes; which means they are constantly being cleared while it’s snowing. This also applies for county highways Oneida St. and Lombardi Ave.
In April 2022, Wisconsin Act 255 was enacted. This allows county and municipal snowplows to use green warning lights in addition to red or amber lights to increase visibility of the snowplow. However, Fontecchio does not anticipate using green lights this season.
“The people that run into our plow trucks; it’s not because they didn’t see the plow truck. It’s because of driver behavior.” said Fontecchio.
He says if they do decide to use green lights, they would likely wait until they have newer equipment.
Fontecchio says the best way to be safe around snowplows is to give them at least 200 feet of following distance.
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