Allison drapes traffic lights in snow

BROWN COUNTY - Blizzard Allison left snow on the ground, and on some traffic lights.

"Everybody's in a rush and sliding all over," said Bridget Ehlert of Green Bay.

Driving after a blizzard often proves challenging, but add some snow-draped traffic lights to the equation, and what was challenging just got tougher.

A man involved in an Ashwaubenon crash tells FOX 11 between the snow covered traffic lights and bright sun, he couldn't see.

"Everybody's guessing on them. They don't know if it's go or stop," said Ehlert. "They're not melting either so you can't tell if you should go or not."

The problem isn't limited to one community.

"I think the city should do something about it because it is very dangerous because the road is already bad enough and you can't see the lights," said Joshua Thao of Green Bay. "So I think somebody should be coming around to at least wipe them off."

The city says it has wiped some of them off. Green Bay's public works director couldn't do an on-camera interview, but says lights that were so covered you couldn't see any indication of signal were cleared by hand.

The city of Green Bay has been changing its traffic lights to LED lights during the last few years. This is the first snow storm where the city has had all LED traffic lights, which don't give off much heat, and therefore don't help melt the snow.

"Save some energy with the LED lights and everything and no one anticipated this happening in this kind of climate," said Captain Bill Galvin of the Green Bay Police Department.

Green Bay's Department of Public Works says the LED lights have saved the city thousands of dollars in monthly power bills.

Public works and the Green Bay police department have received calls about the traffic lights, and offer some advice to drivers.

"Treat every intersection like it's a four way stop. Go up, take your turn, yield to the right and just proceed with caution," said Galvin.

The Green Bay Public Works Department was busy clearing the streets again Thursday. The director says streets are priority, and he's going to continue to monitor the traffic lights.

The police department is optimistic higher temperatures this weekend will help melt off some of the snow.