GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Monday’s snowstorm created frightening driving conditions for most commuters, while for other drivers it was just another day on the job.
It will be a full sixteen-hour day for Green Bay plows as unrelenting snow continued to fall throughout the day.
Steve Grenier, Green Bay Director of Public Works, describes their effort.
“We started at four o’clock in the morning on our primary streets [and] got everything in passable condition,” he says.
They will continue until 8 p.m., stop for a quick break overnight, and then be back at it again Tuesday morning.
While the quantity was more than enough to keep plows busy, thankfully it wasn’t too difficult to move.
“It is a lighter, dryer, fluffier, snow that makes for a lot easier plowing,” he explains.
Grenier says that contrasts last weeks snowfall, which was less in terms of quantity, but was wetter and heavier.
Next up is an effort to lay down salt and brine on roads before frigid temperatures work to combat their effectiveness.
Grenier adds that the long hours and hectic schedules can be stressful for drivers, but the job itself isn’t easy to begin with.
“The stress factor is what takes it out of the folks that are plowing,” he explains. “You know what it’s like driving in that craziness that’s in your windshield.”
Now picture that difficult driving experience stretched out from 4 a.m. to 8 pm.
“That’s what these folks are experiencing all the time, because they’re out there in the worst of the conditions,” he says.
And he says it doesn’t help when the public makes an already tough job even harder by crowding drivers on the road and sometimes even trying to pass them.
“There are folks that simply, they’re in too big of a hurry and they’re trying to get someplace,” explains Grenier. “We got some folks that take some chances that they probably shouldn’t be taking around 70,000-plus pound pieces of equipment.”
Sometimes those risks aren’t just a bad idea, but also illegal.
“It’s illegal to pass a vehicle when it has a blade engaged like that,” says Grenier.
A snow emergency was never declared in Green Bay, but officials remind the public to pay attention to where they park in order to allow plows enough room to operate.
