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	The Manchester Enterprise A Heritage Newspaper Weekly Publication

Crews brace for winter blast

DPW teams clear roads, keep traffic moving on Main Street

By Daniel Lai, Editor

PUBLISHED: February 7, 2008

The heavy snowfall that caused winter storm emergencies in more than a dozen metro cities and closed at least 259 tri-county schools Friday was hardly a problem for Manchester's Department of Public Works road crews.

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"It went real quick," DPW superintendent Gary Wiedmayer said. "We started at 6:45 a.m. and had most of the roads cleaned up by noon."

After a morning of heavy, swirling snow that dropped between 3 and 4 inches in Manchester, Wiedmayer said DPW crews were assisted by Manchester residents Jeff Schaeffer, Jimmy Wild and council member Marty Way, to help clear the streets.

"We got a late start because the snow came in late," he said. "Our crews were working most of the streets while Jeff took care of the business district.

"Clearing the business district is hard because you have all the traffic that you have to work around. You have to try and get what you can get and then come back and finish it off at night."

Whistle Stop owner Sue Miller said she arrived at the restaurant around 6:20 a.m. Friday morning and found maintenance crews were already clearing and salting Main Street.

"They cleared some of the parking spaces also, but even at that early hour, cars were parked preventing them from getting most of the diagonal parking cleared," resident Barry Allen said. "With the additional snow we received on Friday afternoon, Main Street would be pretty treacherous had they not gotten the upper hand in clearing the snow."

Washtenaw County Road Commission spokeswoman Val Cooper said Thursday that before the storm hit, all of the county's trucks were topped off with fuel and filled with salt and ready to go. The Road Commission sent its night crew of about a half dozen plow drivers out early on Friday plowing main roads first.

Manchester Community Schools was one of 10 school districts forced to close due to the snowstorm. A National Honor Society blood drive scheduled for Feb. 1 has been moved to a later date.

Editor Daniel Lai can be reached at 428-8173 or dlai@heritage.com.