DETROIT – With the snow falling off and on all Thursday, we had one big question: when do road commissions make the call to hit the streets? It turns out the answer can get complicated.
Due to intermittent snowfall Thursday into Friday, drivers experienced difficulties on the roads. Road commissions, like those in Oakland and Wayne counties, have been actively responding since the previous night, addressing challenges that began early and persisted through the morning rush.
“What we saw is several bands of snow come through the area,” said Scott Cabautan, with Wayne County.
Cabautan said its road crews were out at 11 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, but the challenges on the roads lasted through the morning rush.
“Did some pre-salting and hit areas that we knew were going to see some snow and then also treated areas that already had snow on the roadway,” Cabautan said. “As the snow intensified throughout the early morning, we continued to attack that.”
Read: Why road salt is ‘virtually worthless’ in extremely cold temperatures
In Oakland County, it was all about the timing and temperature.
“I mean we were fortunate that the temperatures came up so the salt is working,” said Craig Bryson. “The temperatures had been so low and the salt had not been working prior to sometime last night. There was some hard pack on some of the roads, so then once the temperatures come up it takes a little bit longer for the salt to melt that hard pack off.”
The snow coming in waves wasn’t ideal for preparing things for the morning commute.