City crews bracing for another night of icy weather

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – Milwaukee city crews were busy Wednesday, preparing for another round of icy weather.

Salt trucks had been going non-stop since the ice formed Tuesday night.

“We’ve got a general ice control in operation,” said Department of Public Works Spokesman Brian DeNeve.

DPW has a fleet of trucks out.

“We’ve got 103 salt trucks currently deployed and into through the overnight hours to address the entire City of Milwaukee,” said DeNeve.

Their work started before ice layered the city Tuesday night, and they are trying to keep ahead of the next storm.

“If we’re in the case where there’s major freezing and ice conditions and we’re now just laying down salt initially,” said DeNeve, “that may not be the most ideal way to approach it so we definitely try to anticipate these things and work ahead of it.”

“Probably going to have to delay my departure a bit,” said Will Hartman.

Hartman is supposed to drive back to Chicago Thursday morning, he is rethinking his plans.

“Definitely been more cautious,” said Hartman, “I saw some more accidents today.”

“This morning it affected our commute, and I got two hours to get to work,” said Donald Smith, who can feel Hartman’s pain.

Because of Tuesday’s ice, Smith’s normal 25 minute morning commute, ballooned to 2 hours Wednesday.

“Some people have been driving a little crazy but it’s been pretty good,” Smith said about drivers on the road.

As we brace for another wave of ice, DPW says they’ll be ready.

“We’ll be working in the overnight hours and into the morning and getting ready for the morning commute,” said DeNeve.

We Energies is also ready to fix any power outages.

More than 11,000 customers lost power Tuesday night because of the ice, and the company expects more Wednesday.