State road conditions website hampered by heavy traffic

State road conditions website hampered by heavy traffic - With the powerful winter storm that started Sunday making travel hazardous in much of the state, the state 511 road conditions website is being hampered by heavy traffic. Only text reports were being provided Monday morning — not the interactive map — with the following statement: "The Wisconsin 511 Travel Information website is currently experiencing unusually high demand. In order to serve you quickly, we've provided immediate access to the winter road conditions below."

The site is reporting snow covered and slippery highways in every region of the state except the far southern counties and southeast Wisconsin. Close to 15 inches of snow already has fallen in parts of north central Wisconsin, with more snow in the forecast starting Monday afternoon. The next round of snow is expected to be accompanied by gusty winds, so travel conditions could be hazardous due to limited visibility, according to the Department of Transportation state traffic operations center.

Madison streets crews are working on salting the major streets, but no major plowing operation is planned unless Madison gets more than 3 inches of snow — the forecast calls for 3 to 4 inches starting Monday afternoon. "We will evaluate the need for plowing all residential streets, as the next portion of the storm exits the area on Tuesday morning," said Madison Streets Division superintendent Al Schumacher. Schumacher said the main arterials "have been salted and re-salted," and plows have scraped off the crusty ice from the main arterials as well, but won't be scraping the residential areas.

According to the National Weather Service, light snow was falling in northeast Wisconsin Monday morning but heavy snow was reported in north central Wisconsin, with 3 to 5 inches expected in the northern half of the state. Snowfall totals through Monday morning showed the heaviest totals in north central Wisconsin, with Waupaca getting 14.6 inches, Stevens Point 13.0 inches and Merrill 10.2 inches.