Metro Detroit Recovering From Latest Winter Blast

SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - Cleanup from this week's snowstorm is expected to continue for the next three days.  Freeway and road conditions throughout Metro Detroit ranged from clear and dry to snow and ice-covered.

The Southfield Freeway was snow-covered and slippery.  Traffic was at a crawl during the Tuesday morning rush hour. 

"It's ice, it's packed ice, it's rutted, it's terrible," one WWJ listener driving on the Southfield Freeway told WWJ traffic reporter John Bailey. 

Inkster Road from Six Mile to Eight Mile remained snow-covered early Tuesday.

In Macomb County, tipsters said Mound Road, south of I-696 was a sheet of ice. Traffic was slow along Mound from 11 Mile Road up to 15 Mile.

WWJ tipster Richard, who travels up to 70 thousand miles a year in southeast Michigan, said he's never seen the roads worse.  Specifically, he has a beef with Big Beaver Road at I-75 where he said traffic was crawling along in deep snow.

"The entire road is still snow-covered.  There's terrible ice patches.  Traffic's moving like five, ten miles an hour, and I saw one Oakland truck. He was doing to turn around but his plow wasn't down and the salt wasn't coming out," Richard said.

"I'm a Realtor and I travel a great deal around the city -- and Detroit's doing a heck of a lot better than Oakland County," he said.

Responding live on WWJ, Road Commission for Oakland County spokesman Craig Bryson said they have an agreement with the city of Troy to plow that road, but funds have been slashed.

"This year, the city of Troy has informed us that because their budget has been hit so hard, they have significantly reduced their ability to plow and maintain the roads in the winter, and I believe the result of that is what you're seeing on Big Bever today," Bryson said.

Bryson said that, in the past,  the agreement with local governments to plow some roads has worked without incident.

Bryson said that major thoroughfares have been cleared.

"Most motorists will find the freeways and most of the major roads are in fairly good shape. A lot of places we've got dry pavement, some places we've got running water -- and, in a few places, we've got some snow on the road. But, generally speaking, the main roads are in pretty decent shape," he said.

Meantime, Macomb County's Department of Roads said the county has used up about 90 percent of its $3.8 million winter maintenance budget. And Wayne County's Director of Roads said they have only about half of their road maintenance money left.

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A few dozen public school districts remained closed, Tuesday, for a second straight day, including all public schools in Livingston County.

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Meantime, consumers Energy reported 105,000 homes and businesses without power, including 11,000 in Monroe County, which was hit with snow and ice Sunday and Monday. Crews from Indiana and Ohio were coming to Michigan to help with restoration efforts however a majority of the power wasn't expected to be back until Thursday evening.

The following communities declared Snow Emergencies, meaning people have to keep their cars and trucks off city streets:

Berkley
Beverly Hills
Birmingham
Canton
Clawson
Dearborn
Detroit
Ferndale
Garden City
Hazel Park
Huntington Woods
Inkster
Livonia
Madison Heights
Oak Park
Plymouth
Redford Twp.
Riverview
Rockwood
Roseville
Royal Oak
Shelby Twp.
St. Clair
Sterling Heights
Southgate
Trenton
Warren
Wayne
Washington Twp.
Westland

For the latest, stay with WWJ Newsradio 950 for Traffic and Weather, every 10 minutes on the 8s.