WAUKESHA – When it rains more than seven inches in 24 hours, crews have to get creative when it comes to clearing the roads.
Michael Pyritz with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation says that includes calling in the snow plows.
“The drainage pipes were clogged, and so to be able to safely get in there, that was one of the ways they were able to do that,” Pyritz said.
“Reduce the amount of standing water and then also clear the drains so they can have them start functioning and pulling water off the roadway surface.”
It took crews roughly nine hours to get things opened and moving again along I-94. Pyritz says that’s because a backhoe was brought in to help clear clogged drainage pipes.
“Because when you get that much precipitation a lot of debris does get pulled into that and causes blockages and you want to make sure that’s cleared out properly which was done,” Pyritz said.
Things eventually opened up around 2:30 p.m.
You can listen to the entire interview with Michael Pyritz from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and WTMJ’s Alex Crowe in the player at the top of the page.
