Madison Heights ready for winter’s worst

MADISON HEIGHTS — Officials with the Madison Heights Department of Public Services are forecasting colder, wetter weather this winter. They’re preparing accordingly.

“Our city prides itself on exceptional snow removal services,” said Mark Bliss, mayor pro tem of Madison Heights. “There’s often a tangible difference when you’re driving into Madison Heights from other communities. That’s because of the hard work of our DPS, and how they prioritize and plan to respond to these snow events.”

The winter of 2023-24 was relatively mild, with only 19 documented snow events and slightly more than 1,500 tons of salt used to keep the roads drivable. This was well below the five-year average of 2,400 tons, but it’s expected this season could see an uptick in ice and snow.

Heading into winter, the department has 4,170 tons of salt ready in the dome at 801 Ajax Drive. The city’s salt trucks are equipped with brine systems that wet the salt as it spreads, creating a stronger solution for deicing the roads. The city is currently looking into utilizing a service through the Oakland County Road Commission to purchase additional brine while researching the scheduled replacement of its own brine-making apparatus.

This year’s snow control fleet includes one 4-yard loader for loading salt, two 3-yard loaders and one 1-yard loader, which can be used for heavy snow cleanup. Five tandem-axle dump trucks serve as the front line for major road salting and plowing. A sixth tandem-axle truck is fitted for a plow, if extra help is needed.

There are also four single-axle dump trucks that can salt and plow as a backup for the others. Ten pickup trucks with plows, three 1-ton dump trucks, and a couple smaller utility vehicles for sidewalk management round out the fleet.

No snow operations are contracted. Madison Heights handles it all in-house, with 18 full-time equipment operators, and two year-round part-time laborers.

“Winter road maintenance is a hard job, consisting of long hours in the cold, very often in the middle of the night, or on holidays,” Madison Heights DPS Director Sean Ballantine said in an email interview. “Madison Heights has a reputation for its high standard of snow removal, and our staff never fails to rise to the occasion. I’m privileged to have such a dedicated, highly qualified crew.”

He explained that snow events are initiated when the Madison Heights Police Department’s road patrol determines the conditions of the road are deteriorating, and contact dispatch for salt. Dispatchers then contact the DPS supervisor on call, who begins bringing in staff.

“Any time, day or night, if we get a request for road maintenance, we get a crew assembled,” Ballantine said.

The current protocol for a normal snow event splits the city into four routes. In each route, major roads such as John R, 13 Mile Road and Stephenson Highway are cleared first, reducing any snow and ice down to water. Next up are the bus routes and major connector roads within the subdivisions, with a second crew usually working on municipal parking lots and driveways so that paths remain clear for police, firefighters and paramedics. They then move onto the parks and sidewalks.

The mayor pro tem said that the order in which certain roads are plowed changes each time.

“While priority streets are done as quickly as possible for public safety reasons, the standard neighborhood roads are plowed on a rotating basis, so no single neighborhood road will always be plowed first, nor will it always be last,” Bliss said. “It’s the fairest way to do it. Our DPS has their response to these emergencies down to a science, and often they’re already hitting their second pass of major roads before other communities even get up to their first pass.”

He attributed this efficiency both to the DPS wanting to do a good job, but also to the fact that a number of staff, including the director himself, live in the community.

“I think there’s an element at play where DPS members who live here have the advantage of knowing the streets and understanding the community well,” Bliss said.

News of snow events are spread through various media outlets. Ballantine recommends that residents sign up for NotifyMe and Nixle for the most up-to-date notices. Once a snow emergency is declared by the city, residents have six hours to move their vehicles off the roads so that crews can plow the streets curb to curb.

“The department’s response to snow emergencies is extremely efficient, and has only gotten more so over the years,” Bliss said. “They do a great job.”

For more information on the NotifyMe and Nixle alert services, visit madison-heights.org/878/alert-center.