CADILLAC — County Road Commissions all over Northern Michigan once again hammered by the winter weather, struggling to keep up with what mother nature has been throwing at us, including in Wexford and Osceola Counties.
Both county road commissions said that this year has been especially challenging.
Engineer manager at the Wexford County Road Commission, Karl Hanson said that this year has been super difficult with all the back to back events.
“There’s no break, where the guys are running 16 hours on and eight off. So by the time you drive home, you know, take a shower, eat dinner, get a couple hours sleep, you gotta come right back at it,” said Hanson.
Wexford County Road Commission said they have 18 plow drivers for their 17 routes, and have been working at full capacity since Thanksgiving covering over 1,000 miles of roadway.
“We have to keep the state highways open as the highest priority. Those are the roads that have the most traffic and move the most people.
They then move onto main and local roads, before focusing on back roads.
Hanson said they have already spent twice their winter budget and are only halfway through the season.
He said another challenge has been the drastic changes in weather, something he hasn’t seen with his decades working there.
“I don’t recall in history, talking to even some of the old timers having this many times where it bounces between, you know, rain and snow. We’ll have 2 or 3 days of rain, freezing rain, and then it’s right back in the snow.
In neighboring Osceola County, the Osceola County Road Commission Manager, Michael Mattzela, said they have already used more than half of the salt they have for the winter season. It’s been busy this year.
He said they have 16 plow drivers, one for every township, and a few extra guys if needed. They cover about the same amount of miles as Wexford County but they have a different approach.
“We have about 1,000 miles of road. 250 that are paved and another 600 plus that are gravel. So we run, one shift. Basically, we’re out at six normally, and a big storm will be out at five in the morning till five at night,” said Mattzela. He did add that they will remain later if necessary to make sure roads are cleared.
Osceola County, unlike Wexford County, is not responsible for clearing state highways, so they do not run any plows overnight.
“We do not have a contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation to plow their roads. They have their own facilities in our county that do that,” said Mattzela.
He said it gives them an advantage being able to focus just on county roads, prioritizing the roads where people travel the most, as well as hospitals, schools, and businesses but he wishes they had the budget and resources to be everywhere at once.
“We’d just love to have a whole bunch more people and a bunch more of our equipment to go out and do things way faster, but we just can’t afford that,” said Mattzela.