Our mighty crew of 15 has been out since 3:00 PM yesterday, starting with pretreatment and prioritizing collector roads and areas with topographical challenges.
The first crew worked a 16-hour shift and wrapped up around 6:00 AM this morning. As they headed out, the second crew came in and has been continuing that same priority focus.
As soon as a priority route is finished, it has to be started all over again as the snow is coming down fast and hard. On top of that, there have been periods of low visibility due to snowfall rates, freezing windshields even with heat on, a few equipment issues to work through, and even some abandoned vehicles in the middle of the roadway, which slows things further.
The good news:
Our first crew will be back on the roads tonight, right around when the snow is predicted to taper off, and they’ll work through noon tomorrow. That’s when you’ll really start to see progress. From about 6:00 AM to early afternoon tomorrow, both crews will be working together as the current crew wraps up and joins the night crew.
A quick but important note on why we haven’t plowed non-priority streets yet:
We believe the layer we created is helping prevent snow from bonding to the pavement. If we disturb that layer before the snow stops, we interrupt that insulation and it makes final cleanup significantly harder once the storm ends. We know that’s hard to accept in the moment, but it’s the truth and it sets us up for better results when this is over.
We’ve also had some requests from folks identifying themselves as essential personnel and asking for preferential treatment. We understand the pressure people are under, but there’s no fair or workable way to do that and it would ultimately make cleanup harder for everyone.
We are working as hard and as smart as we can.
Thank you for the support you’ve shown our crews. It truly matters.