Road Commission Responds to Criticism About Snow Removal This Week

Changes are coming, managers of the Road Commission for Oakland County promised Thursday, in the wake of the commission's widely criticized response to this week's snow storm and icy road conditions.

While managers said weather conditions made icy roads unavoidable, the commission's incoming chairman pressed them to do more to avoid a repeat.

About 7 inches of snow fell on the area Sunday, and a rapid drop in temperatures led to the icy roads that night and Monday, managers said, even as crews tried to clear the county's snowfall. Schools were closed Monday and Tuesday in Rochester while drivers dodged fish tails and spinouts.

Though the commission doesn't maintain every road in Oakland County, it is responsible for more than 2,700 miles of roadway and 230 miles of state highways. The commission is the second largest road maintenance organization in the state — second only to the Michigan Department of Transportation. In the Rochester area, it is responsible for Tienken Road in Rochester Hills, which was slow and icy on Monday and into Tuesday.

While not a formal agenda item, this winter's first major storm dominated discussion at Thursday's monthly road commission meeting at its administrative office in Beverly Hills. The commission reported receiving about 600 incident reports related to the storm and about 800 calls, many from irate motorists. There were no reports of storm-related fatalities.

"We were out doing what we could," said Darryl Heid, director of highway maintenance for the road commission. "The thing that really hurt us was the low, low temperatures," which caused snow and slush to turn to ice.

Because of that, the road commission will change its salting policy, Deputy Managing Director Dennis Kolar said. The commission will now keep spreading road salt in temperatures down to 15 degrees, Kolar said, ending its normal 20-degree cutoff.

He cautioned, however, that road salt is only fully effective in temperatures above 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

While traction-improving sand is used to supplement road salt in rural areas, it generally isn't used in more developed portions of the county because it clogs storm sewers.

Staff also needs to draft an "action plan" by next month to secure additional drivers during major snowfalls, incoming road commission Chairman Eric Wilson said.

"We can say it was the weather, but the public just won't accept that," said Wilson, a Lake Orion resident who called himself "one of those stuck for four hours on I-75" during the storm's aftermath.

In a news release last month, the road commission warned it would have fewer staffers to drive and maintain the snow plows/salt trucks because of declining state road funding, meaning winter storm cleanups will take longer than in past years.

"This winter, we will have about 50 fewer employees to drive snow plows/salt trucks," commission chairman Richard Skarritt said in the release. "That is about one third fewer drivers this year than we had in 2007."

This year, the road commission cut back on its "second shift" drivers, reducing the crew of 84 roughly in half, due to budget constraints. The second shift conducts clean up work after the first 16-hour shift is completed.

The road commission might consider using tri-party road funds pay for temporary drivers, spokesman Craig Bryson said Thursday, while noting it isn't yet clear whether that would be sufficient or even possible. Tri-party funds are the result of an agreement between the road commission, county and individual municipalities.

The commission also maintains nearly all state roads in the county on a contract basis for the Michigan Department of Transportation, but MDOT has mandated a slightly lower level of service on some non-freeway state routes for a third year, the commission stated in its news release.

On the impacted routes — including Rochester and Auburn roads — the Road Commission is not to clear the roads outside of the regular 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. weekday shift, except during storms or unless otherwise instructed. In cases such as the storm Sunday night, the commission can work to clear those routes to the point it is "generally bare of ice and snow" in the wheel tracks, then finish clearing the next regular work day.

In Rochester Hills, Mayor Bryan Barnett said the city's full squadron of 37 drivers worked to clear the city-maintained streets beginning Sunday. He praised those drivers and their work clearing the roads. "The folks that are plowing our streets are the same ones who have plowed for the last 15 years," Barnett said.

Adding to this week's problem, county staffers said at Thursday's meeting, was that up to 25 percent of the commission's estimated 130-truck fleet was out of commission at times during the storm. "That's not unusual," Kolar said. "It's a rough business."

New trucks cost about $200,000 each, road commission Managing Director Brent Bair said. Buying five new trucks, at about $1 million, "wouldn't have made much difference" in this week's storm, Bair added.

Road commissioners hastened to add that in today's tough budgets, they don't have money for any new trucks.