NEENAH (NBC 26) — NBC 26 headed to downtown Neenah to ask residents one question: Do you know where your snow goes?
The responses were varied.
“They haul the snow from the intersections and roads in town,” said a Neenah resident.
“When I was a kid, it used to be taken to what we call the Neenah slough,” said another Neenah resident.
With all the snow Wisconsin has gotten this season, it can be hard to find a place to put it all.
“Most municipalities have a dump site. We have three where we deposit snow. As it melts it filters through the ground and the trash is collected,” said Greg Radtke, Neenah Public Works superintendent.
The public works crew works night and day to get snow out of the way.
“The biggest thing is visibility for cars and pedestrians. Second would be a pedestrian trying to climb the pile, slip and fall,” said Radtke.
Pedestrians and snow piles pose a problem.
“One of my worst fears was when I was out on the road and some of my guys were pulling up to a snow pile to remove it and there’s a sled on it. You don’t know if there’s a little kid inside buried, tunneled, you don’t know,” said Radtke.
Radtke asks that people stay away from the piles near the street.
When it comes to moving the mountains, there are areas of priority.
They start with downtown parking lots, then move to cul-de-sacs, main roads, and school and pedestrian crosswalks.
Radtke told NBC 26 they haven’t had to move too many this year.
“We really haven’t had winters like we had 20 years ago,” said Radtke.
He hopes that it stays that way.
The Wisconsin DNR does have guidelines in place that Wisconsin residents can reference if they have snow needing removal. Visit dnr.wi.gov to find out where to go with the snow.
