MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – The past week saw the season’s first batch of ice and snow on the roads, and the Marquette County Road Commission has been preparing all summer.
Due to the late snow, the Road Commission’s Director of Operations and Maintenance Ross Olsen said they have plenty of sand to last through the winter.
“All of our garages are at capacity now,” said Olsen. “We just started using sand and salt, which will help us at the end of the year and we won’t have to haul as much next year, so that should help a little bit.”
This is also the first year of the new state Public Act 72, which was enacted in July of this past summer.
The act requires drivers to give 200 feet, or roughly one ice rink, of space between their care and a snowplow or salt truck that is plowing or standing with its flashing lights on, and 20 feet of space while stopped at an intersection.
“There’s a lot of times where we’ll get to an intersection during normal maintenance and we’ll have to back up and the mirrors and lights are covered on the snowplow and it’s not always easy to see,” said Olsen. “A car will sneak in behind the snowplow, blending in with the snow, and we’ll back into them. So this will give us a little more room.”
As always the Road Commission also urges drivers to drive slow on ice and snow.
