City of Detroit prepares for first major winter storm of the season
(CBS DETROIT) — The first major winter storm of the season is set to bring significant accumulations to Southeast Michigan on Wednesday.
Crews from Detroit's Department of Public Works were prepping and pretreating the city's roads ahead of the first snowfall on Wednesday afternoon.
DPW Director Ron Brundidge provided an update Wednesday on his department's response plan.
"We're very comfortable. We're very confident. Again, our drivers are looking forward to the task, and again, we're going to have folks out there around the clock until all of the city streets are clear," Brundidge said.
With close to half a foot of snow expected to hit our region over the next 24 hours, crews are busy prepping and pretreating the city's roads, with more than 200 trucks and plows being deployed across town.
"We'll have people out riding all night and then all overnight and in the morning and our objective is to ensure that our residents are able to safely get from their residential streets to the major roads that will be cleared by our city crews," said Brundidge.
Another key tool in battling the storm is salting.
"During an event like this, we could easily use between two to 4,000 tons of salt, depending on how you know how large the event is, but we're in a really good place," said Brundidge.
DPW says they plan to divide their drivers into rotating 12-hour shifts to ensure that there is coverage at all times until all the snow is cleared.
"We are at full staff. We have extra drivers if needed. We always bring in extra drivers in case there's an issue or something happens or somebody doesn't show up. We have backfill for that," said Doug Collins, Superintendent of Solid Waste for DPW.
Detroit residents are encouraged to use the Improve Detroit app to report snow removal issues. Residents can also call DPW's Street Maintenance Division at 313-224-0033.
