The Badger Herald

NEWS

City digs out with ‘everything we got’

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Also by Cara Harshman:

Alder proposes documentation (February 6, 2008)
Police advance in homicide case (February 4, 2008)
Police find weapon in 1st '08 homicide in Madison (January 31, 2008)
50 degree swing freezes city (January 30, 2008)
Charter launches hockey network (January 30, 2008)

by Cara Harshman

Thursday, February 7, 2008

More than 12 inches of snow and whiteout conditions pushed the city of Madison streets division to its limits Wednesday, shutting down many city facilities including Metro Transit service.

The city declared a snow emergency Wednesday, effective until Friday morning. In order to plow the streets, city officials are asking residents who usually park on the street to park in one of the city parking lots until Friday morning or on the even side of the street, said George Dreckmann, Madison streets superintendent.

The lots are free from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. on snow emergency days.

Dreckmann said the city brought in 70 to 80 pieces of snow-clearing equipment from outside contractors and hopes to have all the streets plowed by 10 a.m. today.

“We’re gonna throw everything we got at it,” Dreckmann said, adding many streets will need to be plowed at least twice.

All Metro Transit services, including SAFErides, were stopped at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“It’s a safety issue,” Metro Transit spokesperson Mike Rusch said. “When buses get stuck and we start noticing trouble and traffic, we decide to end service.”

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz cancelled all committee meetings and closed nonessential facilities early. Essential city facilities where employees were required to stay include agencies that affect public safety, health and wellbeing, like the fire and police departments and snowplow services, said George Twigg, spokesperson for Cieslewicz.

“We wanted to give employees the opportunity to get home,” Twigg said.

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk also sent employees from nonessential services in Dane County home early.

Green, Rock and Columbia counties pulled plows off the road in the afternoon, according to Josh Wescott, spokesperson for Falk, but he said Dane County “kept plows on the road all day.”

The Beltline, Interstate highways and main streets were plowing priorities for Dane County to keep roads clear for ambulances, fire trucks and police cars, Wescott added.

Buses were running 20 to 30 minutes late on Wednesday, which Rusch said was better than Metro Transit expected. He added riders were calling Metro Transit all day to check up on bus status and asking if it was ending service.

“Seven p.m. is later than we’d like to be out there, but we wanted to make sure everyone got their message and that we could get everybody home,” Rusch said.

Buses will be running again as soon as possible, and Rusch said he expects service to begin again this morning.

Some local restaurants closed or stopped delivering because of the snow. Employees from Ian’s and Jimmy Johns on State Street said they delivered all day but stopped taking delivery orders around 5 p.m. Silver Mine Subs and Asian Kitchen operated and delivered as usual Wednesday night.

Tom Leary, delivery person for Asian Kitchen, put sandbags in his car to increase pressure on his snow tires.

“I’m driving really fast,” Leary said. “Our delivery times are good — less than an hour.”

Delivery is a big part of Silver Mine’s business, owner Kenny Brenner said.

“We anticipated the weather and called in extra drivers,” he said. “There’s no stopping our delivery.”

Although slick roads were catalysts for vehicle accidents, UW Hospital was no busier than usual, said Kris Whitman, spokesperson for UW Hospital and Clinics. “Maybe people are heeding the warnings,” she added.

Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, also a junior at UW, said he was extremely disappointed classes were not cancelled Wednesday morning.

“I’m disappointed UW ignored the fact that people who commuted in also had to commute out,” Judge said. “It says something when I’m walking home from class and I see students sledding down the stairs on Observatory.”

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Anonymous (February 7, 2008 @ 2:00pm):

Bull, the 6 bus did not make one run from the bottom of State Street to the West Transfer Point from 3pm until after 5:30. I know because I walked the distance after it appeared the 6 was not coming. While I'm fine with shutting the buses down, it would have been nice if we were INFORMED they were going to be down at 3pm so we could arrange for alternate transport.

Anonymous (February 7, 2008 @ 3:25pm):

Maybe if that ward heeler from Chicago makes it into the Whitehouse the plows will run on time. Chicago politicians know the importance of snow removal!

Anonymous (February 7, 2008 @ 7:22pm):

It's not the size of your snow plow, it's how you use it. Unfortunately, Madison fails in both departments.

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