More snow has cities looking for space to plow snow

BURLINGTON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- More snow means more plowing for city and county street departments.

After all the snow earlier in the week, finding places to push that snow is getting harder.

Cities across the area have to make way for Thursday's snow to be pushed somewhere.

In Burlington, that means hauling snow to the baseball diamonds parking lot and forming a sea of snow dunes.

Snowplowing is critical in any winter storm. On I-94, this latest storm caused slick roads, contributing to a crash caught on camera by one of our CBS 58 crews.

But with so much plowing, cities are running out of space.

"Monday morning we hit the ground running removing piles of snow from downtown parking lots," said Burlington Public Works Director Peter Riggs.

He said as more snow falls, the city will have to get rid of it quickly, before it freezes.

"Starting tomorrow, after this event, we have some spots we have to hit, hauling out some snow from some cul-de-sacs that we're losing some storage ability on," said Riggs.

Those snow piles frustrate Mark Sheldon, who's lived in the neighborhood for 20 years.

"They used to reverse the plow in a circular motion and put all the snow in the center of the cul-de-sac in one big pile," said Sheldon.

He worries about the pile blocking a fire hydrant.

"We're real pleased with the way Burlington plows its streets, but in this situation, it seems like we've gone from a good snow removal process to one that leaves us with questions," said Sheldon.

Other cities like Oconomowoc have been pushing snow back to make way for Thursday's snowfall. In West Allis, a new volunteer program to help residents shovel their property has been filled, with more calls coming in than the program can handle.

"Once we build up our volunteer base, we'll be great and we'll be able to fill up those extra spaces and get all the help we need covered," said West Allis Tourism and Event Coordinator Caitlyn White.

Burlington will create more snow dunes this winter. Once they melt, the city will clear away any leftover trash with a streetsweeper.