OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Ottawa County road crews are working 24/7 to keep roads clear as winter weather continues to batter the area, with more snow expected in the coming days.
The Ottawa County Road Commission has all hands on deck as crews battle challenging conditions that include high winds and heavy snow. Operations Supervisor Ken Hildebrand said the combination of snow and wind is making road clearing particularly difficult.
"It was pretty bad this morning. These high winds aren't doing us any favors. The Lakeshore is really getting a shellacking," Hildebrand said.
The road commission is currently running first, second and third shifts to provide round-the-clock coverage. However, the strong winds are limiting what crews can accomplish.
"In these weather conditions, we typically plow. As you can tell, the wind is very strong, so if we do salt application or salt sand applications, it just kind of blows off the road," Hildebrand said.
Instead, crews are focusing on strategic salt and sand applications for traction at hill stops and curves while waiting for the winds to die down.
The busy period is far from over, with another weather system expected in the next couple of days.
"We've got another system coming in Tuesday and Wednesday," Hildebrand said. "Those guys started plowing in Thanksgiving, and it's been pretty much non-stop, except for a couple warm up days that we've had."
Hildebrand said this winter has been significantly more active than last year. He said the road commission has already used about 43% of its salt supply by the end of December, compared to reaching that same percentage in February last year.
"That's due to all the storm events that have been back to back," Hildebrand said. "In the last three or four years, the snow events haven't been like this, and it's just been non-stop."
With 1,700 miles of roads to cover in Ottawa County, Hildebrand is asking residents for patience as crews work through their systematic approach to snow removal.
"What we do is we go into the state system, then we go into our primaries, then we go into locals, then we go to the subdivisions. And the reason why we do that, is because the traffic volume is in that order," Hildebrand said. "It takes time to get through the system. So if they're just patient, we'll get there."
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