MILWAUKEE — A busy stretch is expected to get busier for public works crews and local snow removal companies.
More snow is on the way Thursday, followed by dangerously cold temperatures over the weekend.
“The last couple weeks we’ve had a larger than normal snow accumulation,” said West Allis Department of Public Works Director Dave Wepking. “We’re currently still maintaining and trying to get all of the side streets clear.”
Crews in Milwaukee are also still clearing sidewalks and narrow streets after Sunday’s snow storm.
The slow process has drawn criticism from at least two alderman. Aldermen Khalif J. Rainey and Russell W. Stamper, II issued a joint statement calling the process “simply unacceptable.”
“We are working as hard as we can,” said Milwaukee DPW spokesman Brian DeNeve. “Certain areas are just by nature narrow streets–the way they were designed–and if they’re heavily parked up, we’ve had problems getting our equipment down them.”
Crews are also mindful of the bottoming temperatures coming this weekend, which can make treatment more difficult.
“It’d be more time consuming and you use more material–or products– to try and remove that, so it’s best to do it at the time of the storm,” Wepking said.
There’s also the issue of available space for plows to shove the snow.
“You can usually go through an average snow without moving any snow,” said Paul Terry, owner of Paul Terry Services in Waukesha. “If it gets any worse we’re going to have to take our skid steer on some of the properties just to move snow so we have more room to put it.”
Terry says it took about 30 to 35 hours to dig out all of their clients last week.
“It’s been very busy and pretty hectic,” he said. “But it’s worked out pretty good.”