DETROIT (WXYZ) — The snow may have stopped for now, but clean-up efforts are still in full swing Wednesday morning. The biggest job is in Detroit, where contractors have been working since 6 a.m. Tuesday to clear neighborhood streets.
On McDougall near E. Lafayette, a side of the street near Detroit MLK High School has been plowed, but the side with the homes on it was untouched, until a city crew came by around 6:45 a.m. to plow the street.
Contractors with the city are up against the clock, as they have 24 hours to get streets cleared or face a financial penalty.
“I see my neighbors got out and shoveled a little bit. We've been waiting on our own service, I can't even leave my porch,” one resident said. “I've never seen them come down McDougall so I couldn't tell you.”
In Detroit, four contractors are working to clear the residential streets in the city's seven council districts. Detroit City Inspector Martin Gomez says they keep an eye out to make sure the job is getting done.
There are some 1,800 miles of neighborhood sterets to clear in just 24 hours.
“If I find any deficiencies as far as they missed it, didn't do it, did it halfway right, it's noted," Gomez said.
The push to plow comes with an added hassle, finding a place to put all the snow.
Overnight, crews loaded snow removed from downtown Detroit into dump trucks to be hauled away. The city shells out more than half a million dollars on snow removal each time we see more than six inches.
While it's not ideal for homeowners, jobs like this are a welcome business for contractors after recent mild winters.
"Yeah, it's been a couple of years. I know we had a couple of good ones a few years back. We've been waiting on this," Terry Payne Jr. with Payne Landscaping said.
Many smaller cities in southeast Michigan have declared snow emergencies due to the storm, but Detroit has not.
