NEWAYGO COUNTY, Mich. — Newaygo County has road crews on standby ahead of the winter storm.
"So, tonight (Thursday), we treat it typically, like every other night. We do have a second third shift foreman out, running the roads, monitoring the road conditions. And if needed, they will call in, you know, trucks early from our day shift," Newaygo County Road Commission Superintendent Mike Brege told FOX17.
The foreman is typically in a pickup truck and not one of the heavy-duty blow trucks.
"Just kind of watching the radar to see if it starts changing to pink. We start watching the windshield listening to the rain hitting," he added.
Rain did not have much of an impact during Wednesday’s evening commute.
"We've been fortunate so far, we haven't had much of a winter. So our trucks are ready to go. And we're ready to get out there," Brege added.
The lack of winter in West Michigan played a big factor in why the Newaygo County Road Commission has 2,000 tons of salt and 1800 yards of salt and sand mix ready to go out on the roads.
"We have a salt shed here and White Cloud as well as one in Newaygo. And we're both full. So we're ready for ready for the storm," Brege said.
If conditions do get worse, Newaygo has about two dozen drivers ready to hit the roads. Brege said the crew would start getting in around 3:30 to 4:00 in the morning.
"I think with this storm, it looks like it might be the Northeast section of the county, so they'll probably primarily focus on that area," Brege said. "We get the trucks out treating the state highways and primaries first, of course. And then we go on to the other secondary roads at that point."
