Here’s a summary of the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) storm efforts so far.
We called in our first trucks at 5:45 last night, and have been out ever since. Between 7 and 8 p.m. we increased our number of trucks out to 46 as the snow picked up. At 9:30, our forecaster informed us that the storm was getting much heavier at this point, which was several hours earlier than previously predicted.
At about 11 p.m., we made the call to bring in the rest of our drivers, and by about 1 or 1:30, we had about 90 percent of our runs covered and by 2:30 all 106 runs were covered. We’ve remained at that level since then.
The heaviest of the storm is clearly over now, though we’re expecting to get a couple more inches of snow during the day today and the wind continues to hamper efforts.
At present, for the most part, most of the freeways and primary/major roads are in relatively good shape. Many still have a layer of snow, but all have been plowed and traffic is moving relatively well on most. We have also been able to put some graders out to push back drifts as well. In addition, we brought in some smaller trucks from our electrical division, and they have been working on the turnarounds on the boulevards (Telegraph, Woodward, Williams Lake and Walton).
New for this storm, MDOT has provided four smaller trucks that are helping out on the ramps on the freeways (I-75 and M-59). This seems to be working well.
Also, we have hired several private graders that are helping out on the gravel roads during the day today.
We will be able to maintain our full contingent on the roads until about the middle of the day when some of the drivers who came in earlier will hit their 16 hours and will be required to take a break. However, we will keep the rest of the fleet on the road through rush hour. We will have trucks on the road overnight, but we have not yet determined how many will be available, but we will continue to work as long as needed.
About Tom and Ann Gendich