Local road commissions are putting in a lot of hours Tuesday into Wednesday as the snow continues to fall.
NBC25 spoke with one department that has an interesting way of letting you know which roads have already been plowed.
Anywhere from 40 to 45 trucks make up the fleet of the Saginaw County Road Commission.
You can keep track of them online.
Global positioning software shows you where the trucks are heading and what they're doing.
A color chart explains a yellow truck is one that is plowing and spreading salt, black is only salting, blue is only plowing, and red means the vehicle is off.
In days like these when the snow is coming down at a rapid rate, the technology helps determine the best plan for snow removal.
Brian Wendling, Managing Director of the Saginaw County Road Commission, says "We will keep them over on overtime. I do have a small crew that we will run through the evening hours to manage what we call our emergency routes."
Another factor that's benefiting the Saginaw Co. Road Commission is the salt budget. In fact, it's only used 40% of what it used last year. Wendling says, "You'd like to say that's a savings, but unfortunately we're still in February, so we'll have to wait and see how that plays out."
In the meantime, the department is trying to maximize the effort with a limited budget and more than 1,800 miles of roads to clear.
