At the beginning of December, Wisconsin experienced a snowstorm the National Weather Service called the worst the state had experienced in the last 10 years, however there were no fatalities, no serious injuries and the disruptions to travelers were minimal, according to Capt. Charles Teasdale, southwest region commander with the Wisconsin State Patrol.
That outcome is in sharp contrast to the situation during a February 2008 storm that stranded nearly 2,000 motorists on a snowy stretch of interstate for as long as 12 hours without food or water and running out of fuel.
According to WISN.com, several hours passed before state officials learned what was going on. After the 2008 storm, officials did not want to see the same situation occur.
So when a snowstorm dumped a foot and a half of snow on much the same stretch of road on Dec. 8, the state was ready with a variety of new measures that kept the majority of motorists off the highway and expedited the coordination necessary to clearing the snow. For example, a statewide 511 system rolled out following the February 2008 storm was used to inform the public regarding road conditions and traffic-monitoring cameras were installed as a means of maintaining situational awareness, Teasdale said.
Snow-clearing operations were expedited by an Emergency Transportation Operations plan that was hashed out with all the stakeholders. Part of the plan included: placing Department of Transportation engineers in the state Emergency Operations Center; training department personnel in the use of the Incident Command System; and implementation of an ICS-style command structure, which includes designating regional incident management coordinators available to respond to the scene of an incident, to improve coordination with law enforcement, Teasdale said.
Coordination, Common Language Lessens Impact of Wisconsin Snowstorm
By: Corey McKenna on December 30, 2009
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