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.?