Thomas MacMillan Photo
Middletown Avenue: Where it’s going.
Four-eyed snow genie.
City officials are figuring out where to store all the snow and ice setting up semi-permanent residence in New Haven — and they’ve unveiled a new parking plan for when the next storm hits, which could happen Wednesday.
Multiple snowstorms in recent weeks have left New Haven piled high with snow and ice, and while the streets are largely clear, the Department of Public Works (DPW) continues to widen roads. Plows and payloaders are doing that by pushing the snow to the curb, and by scooping it up and hauling it to several snow depots around town.
Meanwhile, the department has a new plan for snowstorm parking aimed to facilitate efficient plowing. Confusion followed the last big storm, when word didn’t get out about where to park when.
Uma Ramiah File Photo
Howard Weissberg (right) with acting transit chief Jim Travers.
The new plan, according to Howard Weissberg, deputy director of the DPW, is simple: On the day of a storm and the day after, people should park their cars on the even side of the street. That’s because most fire hydrants are on the odd side of the street, Weissberg said.
The new rule isn’t a parking ban, “in any way shape or form,” Weissberg said. It’s more like a request for cooperation and coordination between neighbors and the city, he said. If everyone parks on the even side of the street, it will be easier for plows to make the streets quickly passable, Weissberg said.
Weissberg’s crew may have the chance to try to new system starting Wednesday night, when yet another sizable snowfall is predicted.
Weissberg acknowledged that such coordination hadn’t worked out so well during the last blizzard. The city put out the word about alternate-side parking, but the “magnitude [of snow] didn’t allow that to happen,” Weissberg said.
The ideal snow removal would be to open the main roadway the first day, clear one side of the street the second, and clear the other side the third, Weissberg said.
Snowbanks on Whalley Avenue loom over pedestrians.
New Haven has 240 miles of roads, Weissberg said. That’s 480 miles to plow, since the trucks have to work both sides of each street, he said. It’s a time-consuming process.
“What we try to do is push it back as soon as possible,” he said. It can be a race against time, since rain and temperature changes can make the snow more difficult to manipulate.
The ideal isn’t always possible, especially when New Haven gets as much snow as it has, he said. In a city, where space is at a premium, snow removal faces additional obstacles.
“In a suburb, when you push the snow to the side of the road, the side of the road doesn’t throw the snow back at you,” Weissberg said. With everyone clearing off their cars and shovelling out their driveways into the street, the road can quickly become snowed in even right after a plow has passed, he said.
On Monday, several days after the latest snow, DPW trucks and equipment were deployed to George Street and Middletown Avenue to widen streets. At this stage, the snow has hardened to the point where a payloader is needed. Ordinary plow-blades are no match for snow that’s melted and re-frozen, Weissberg said.
A bus stop on Whalley Avenue is encased in mounds of snow.
George Street was selected because it’s a heavily travelled bus route, Weissberg said. The DPW takes multiple forms of transportation into account when clearing the streets, from cyclists to bus riders, he said,
The payloaders push the snow off the street, or — in some areas flagged as inaccessible by the fire department or trash haulers — scoop it into trucks for removal. The snow is taken to a few different locations. The main cache (pictured at the top of the story) is at 34 Middletown Ave., DPW headquarters.
“It’s Mount Snow,” said Weissberg, referring affectionately to the 15-foot high plateau of snow occupying one end of the parking lot.
The DPW has another mound in a parking lot in East Shore Park, Weissberg said. That snow will also be moved to Mount Snow, he said. Another mountain is being built on Chapel Street, he said.
At the intersection of Clinton and Middletown avenues on Monday afternoon, payloader operator Wilfredo Perez was finishing up his work widening the intersection. He said he’s going back to finish George Street on Tuesday, then headed over to work on Sherman Avenue.
Tired of the snow? You could try putting in request for a reprieve on the Green, where a giant, bespectacled snow-head accepts wishful pennies placed in his mouth. But choose your wishes wisely; quantities are limited. A sign nearby reads, “Sorry, tough times … Limit 2 Wishes.”
Wilfredo Perez cleared snow from Clinton Avenue on Monday afternoon.
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