TROY, Mich. (WXYZ) — Metro Detroit cities are cleaning up after Wednesday evening's snowstorm, but whether snowplows will clear residential streets depends on how much snow accumulated on the roads themselves.
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In Troy, residents like Kris Picano are scraping ice and clearing snow off their sidewalks and driveways.
"It's been a little bit of a nightmare around here, but we do what we can, still got to get to work," Picano said of metro Detroit road conditions.
While Troy requires residents to clear sidewalks when more than 2 inches of snow falls, the city won't deploy plows to residential streets unless there's at least 4 inches of accumulation on the roadway.
"We are just salting the local roads at this point. We do have a snow policy and part of that policy says it needs to have a 4-inch accumulation or greater to plow local roads," said Kurt Bovensiep, Troy's Public Works director. "I know there's a difference between (sidewalks and) our local road policy, but there is a significant difference between a drivable surface and a pedestrian walkable surface.”
Bovensiep explained that crews measure snow accumulation on the actual roadway in the morning, not on porches, driveways or grass. They also consider road passability, noting that in this case, the snow is packed down.
"Even if we were on the local roads plowing, we wouldn't make much impact because our goal is not to get down to bare pavement in local roads, it's just to make it passable. And currently, in my belief, it is passable," Bovensiep said.
Many residents weren't aware of the 4-inch policy, and many Facebook comments questioned the measurement.
"Regardless of how deep the snow is, it's been pretty unsafe conditions. I've seen accidents and things like that," Picano said.
"It seems a bit high. I think more like they would do it after 2 or 3 inches. Four seems a bit high to me," Paul Baeten said.
However, Baeten also noted that road conditions haven't been too problematic.
"Honestly they haven't been bad. I haven't noticed anything too bad," Baeten said. "They were passable. No issues.”
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While many other metro Detroit cities declared snow emergencies, nearby communities including Madison Heights and Royal Oak joined Troy in not declaring one. The city of Royal Oak reported in a Facebook post that their roadways measured 2 inches to 2.5 inches of snow, while commenters pointed out the National Weather Service reported 4 inches of snowfall in the city.
"I know there’s been some debate whether we actually received 4 inches or greater,” Bovensiep said. “We measure the road surface, which can be very different than accumulation to someone measuring their deck, their lawn or even their driveway.”
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Bovensiep said they also consider future forecasts when making plowing decisions. With more snow expected Friday, Bovensiep says Troy will likely then surpass the 4-inch threshold, putting plows onto neighborhood streets before the weekend.
"We take it all into consideration. It is a significant expense to go into local roads," Bovensiep said. "I have family (and) friends who live in the city of Troy and their safety is of the utmost importance to me, but also there has to be a balance of being fiduciary responsible and making sure we have the funds to fix the roads in the summertime.”
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