Politics & Government

DPW Needs to Improve Plowing

Town officials will devote more plows to main roads to bring them to bare pavement sooner.

The second major storm of the season left more snow and more complaints  about snow plowing in its wake.

“Needless to say, we have been having problems,” Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Jill Sullivan told Public Works Director Gino Cresta on Wednesday.

Sullivan said that she had received numerous calls from residents who said the roads had not been salted during last week’s storm.

Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Cresta said crews applied liquid calcium and road salt but they do not melt snow and ice immediately.

Cresta said the department and their contractors could have done a better job getting roads black and dry sooner but their road clearing improved over the first storm, Dec. 26-27.

Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Town Administrator Andrew Maylor said it should also be noted that the crews were commended by school officials for their work clearing pavement at schools.

“We should also recognize some of the things that are (done well),” he said.

Maylor said heavy wet snow in the Jan. 12 storm downed dozens of utility wires slowing traffic and plowing operations.

A key to snow-clearing improvement will be using more pieces of equipment on the main plow route, Maylor said.

To that end, Cresta will assign six plows instead of four to the main route — Humphrey, Atlantic, Essex, Burrill and Salem — in the next storm.

The next storm may not be far off. Friday’s forecast from the National Weather Service says several inches of snow is possible, coinciding with the morning commute.

 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here