Road crews race to beat refreeze

GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - Crews across West Michigan Monday tried to clear snow and ice from neighborhoods roads that normally don't see plow trucks during snow.

They aim to beat freezing temperatures that Storm Team 8 forecasts will return to the area Wednesday.

"Subdivisions streets will probably be difficult to maneuver until crews got there," Joanna Johnson of the Kalamazoo County Road Commission told 24 Hour News 8 in a message.

"Those take a lot of time," Kent County Road Commission plow truck driver Corbin Wiegerink explained Monday.

Snow, then freezing rain and warmer temperatures Sunday and Monday left many roads a slush-covered mess. If the trucks can't clear the roads before the refreeze, that slush could turn to a thick layer of ice.

The Kent County Road Commission allowed 24 Hour News 8 to ride along Monday at a subdivision on Winesap Street NE in Grand Rapids Township.

"The biggest problem we have right now is our basins," Wiegerink said. "We've got to make sure we take all the ice and snow off them. If that didn't happen, it would cause flooding and stuff like that."

That neighborhood is a normal route when there's a lull in snowfall, Wiegerink said.

Neighbors said they don't see plows often.

"(It's) very rare," Brenda Bruinsma said while shoveling the snow that the plow shoved into her driveway. She appreciates the clearing of her subdivision, and concedes she obsessed with cleaning up the snow and ice mess.

"The slushy snow (is) a pain," Bruinsma chuckled.

On country roads, crews need to scrape off ice, Jerry Byrne of the Kent County Road Commission explained, because crews can't use a sand and salt mix, which would only create a muddy mess.