Warm weather, plenty of equipment and residents parking their cars in garages or on driveways have accelerated the city’s snow removal plans, the public works director said Friday.
Warm weather, plenty of equipment and residents parking their cars in garages or on driveways have accelerated the city’s snow removal plans, the public works director said Friday.
Dan Rites said residential snow clearing was moving at a relatively brisk pace since the process began Wednesday. While he wouldn’t give a firm date, Rites said the forecasted completion date of Nov. 24 will likely be amended.
“We’ll know a bit more after the weekend, but we still have some clean-up and some snow piles to get rid of,” Rites said.
Warm weather has helped soften the snow and ice, which is making it easier for crews to remove. The city is also ramping up from six to 10 the number of contractors it is bringing in to augment public works’ own crews, the most the city has ever used.
“This is the biggest operation we’ve ever had in terms of the number of graders,” Rites said.
Residents have also been good about not parking on streets, which allows crews to remove snow across the entire width of a road. Ice has become less of a problem due to the warming trend, though it is creating some difficult areas as the ruts cars plowed into the streets after the snow first fell have collapsed, making driving more difficult.
“At the same rate it does provide for easier removal by the graders,” Rites said.
