Snow removal taxes resources

Date: 1/17/2011

Jan. 17, 2011

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD — This Nor'easter is one for the record books according to Al Chwalek, the director of Springfield's Department of Public Works (DPW).

"It was more than a greater challenge [for the DPW], Chwalek told Reminder Publications on the morning of Jan. 13, the day after the storm hit Western Massachusetts. "It pushed our capacity to the absolute limit."

Chwalek said this storm was "second only to the blizzard of 1978." He reported an accumulation of 22 inches at his home in the 16 Acres section of the city.

"It's just too much snow," he said.

As Chwalek spoke, some sections of the city had yet been plowed out and reports gathered through Facebook by this reporter from city residents varied greatly.

One resident wrote, "It is now 8 a.m. on Thursday morning and I can't get down my street. I thought with this amount of snow I would give the city through the night to get the streets done before I became annoyed. I am annoyed. My street is a cut through so I will have to assume all the smaller streets in the neighborhood didn't get plowed out either."

Another wrote, "I live in the Brightwood area and our street had a plow on it about 8 a.m. It made a path for people to get out if need be. Then around 10:30 a.m. three plows come down the street. Of course, we always have to have one person not abiding by the rules and the plows went around their car out in the street and now we have a snow bank twice the size of our tree belt out in front of our house. You can't even see the fire hydrant unless one is standing in front of our driveway. I really wish they would ticket and tow these individuals that don't follow the parking ban rules."

Parking impeded the plows' progress, Chwalek said, as too many people parked their cars in front of their driveways to avoid the plows pushing snow into the entrance.

Another resident registered his frustration over the enforcement of the parking bans through Facebook. "We had a plow show up in the a.m. However, there is a car currently parked on my street, which prevented part of the street (in front of my house and another neighbor's) from being plowed. The snowplow had to go around him and, in so doing, plowed our driveway in (moreso that normal). A neighbor called the police to report the traffic violation and, supposedly, the thing was going to get towed. Twenty to 25 minutes later another plow comes through, drives around it and viola, plows us in again! The neighbor, and I think my dad, too, called up to report it again and nothing has happened yet. What good is a parking ban if it is not enforced?"

Others praised the DPW efforts.

"We received an initial pass at around 9 a.m. Enough to get down the street if we really had to which, thankfully, we did not. Second pass came at about 5:30 p.m. and cleaned the street right to the curbs! Great job! We cleaned out the end of the driveways and are ready to head to work in the morning. Honestly couldn't ask for more. I'd give DPW an A+ on this one!" one resident wrote.

Chwalek explained the city has access to 180 vehicles to clear snow between its own inventory and private contractors. The problem with a snow with accumulations of this height, he said, is more than half of the snowplows are pick-up trucks that can only handle 10 inches or so of snow.

When a snow surpasses 10 inches, the trucks are "absolutely useless."

The DPW efforts concentrated on main streets in the city and drivers worked about 18 hours before closing down about 9 p.m. on Jan. 12, Chwalek said.

The problem is there was three-foot-tall wind rows at the end of many residential streets, he noted, that could only be addressed by the largest equipment the department had.

The challenge the day after the storm, besides finishing the residential streets, is to push back snow banks that are up to four-feet high, Chwalek said.

DPW personnel were working with the police, fire department and ambulance officials in making sure emergency services could reach residents. Chwalek explained a piece of heavy equipment would "punch a hole" in an unplowed street. DPW workers did that about 25 times during the storm.

Chwalek said the cost for cleaning after this storm would be "incredibly expensive" but was not an issue at this time.