Alex Simone: For WBFO News, this is Alex Simone, and I'm here with Bill Geary, commissioner of public works for Erie County. And Bill, first of all, can you tell me what you guys have, kind of, been seeing around the county today?
Bill Geary: We're still getting that pestering Lake Effect band that set up in the South Towns. (It) put down another, probably, 6” to 8” of snow. It seems … about 1-, 2-o’clock, it started drifting back north into the city and the North Towns. But it's still putting down a pretty good amount of snow. There's times where you're within that band, visibility may go down to about a couple hundred feet. And the band seems to be very narrow, about 10 miles wide, but the best thing today is (that) the winds haven't been picking up.
AS: So on the whole then, would you say conditions have been improving from the past couple days?
BG: Yes, absolutely. Not only just weather conditions improving, but road conditions as well. Even during these isolation periods when the snow isn't there, we've had a full complement of our plow trucks -- up to about 40 at any one time -- running the 35 plow routes that the county has. been running 12 hour shifts for the last five days straight. The crews -- not just Erie County crews but all crews -- man, they’ve just been hitting it really hard.
AS: You've had these two, back-to-back snow events, but then you compound on that another playoff game, with thousands of vehicles moving down to Orchard Park over the weekend. You see people just parking on the side of the road or in private lots, I feel like there could be limitation as far as some of that, is that any level of concern?
BG: We had that last week as well. We lost probably 10% of our parking lots around the stadium, as well as at ECC, just due to the snow piles. We're trying to mitigate this week, to try and have every possible spot open that we can … My advice to fans is, try and get out there a little bit earlier if you're looking for a parking spot, but also, try and carpool.
AS: Geary says anyone driving the next few days should be extra careful because snow banks will limit visibility. From Cheektowaga, I’m Alex Simone, WBFO.
