Madison's street clean-up efforts, which reamin slow after the Dec. 1 storm, were further complicated by Tuesday's snowfall, and for the second time in five days the city declared a snow emergency.
Mayor Spokesperson George Twigg said the cleanup has been going well, but has been especially challenging because of the ice that accumulated on top of the snow.
According to Madison Street Superintendent Al Schumacher, the city's continuing efforts to use less salt have made clearing ice from residential roads and sidewalks difficult. Salt is only used, he said, on large thoroughfares, connector streets, bus routes and around hospitals. Sand mixtures with small amounts of salt are used by the city's 60 plows to provide traction on streets and sidewalks where salt use is restricted.
Twigg said the city's low-salt policy is important in eliminating the contamination of lake and drinking water. Salt from the streets eventually ends up in the groundwater, which is where Madison's drinking water comes from. The salt also flows through storm sewers, which empty into the already-contaminated lakes.
It's an effort to get an acceptable balance between getting streets safe to travel on and protecting water quality,"" Twigg said.
Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, said that while excessive salt use is unhealthy for the water supply and the lakes, resident safety should come first. He said he has received many complaints from students about unsafe street and sidewalk conditions, and even witnessed a student crash into a snow bank on his moped after Saturday's storm.
""It's one of those tradeoffs we make, and I can see why [the salt policy] is something we may want to look at with regards to changing it because of safety,"" Judge said.
Schumacher said snow from Tuesday's storm is supposed to be dryer and lighter than the snow from the weekend's storm, making plowing easier.
However, Schumacher warned that streets could become slipperier, not just because of the new snow, but because the ice underneath might not be visible to drivers and pedestrians. He urged drivers to brake slowly and give themselves enough time to stop.
Twigg said residents could help the city's cleanup efforts by abiding by parking regulations so snowplows can clear snow all the way to the curb.
