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NORTHBRIDGE, Mass. – At 6 a.m. Saturday morning, weary snowplow drivers in Northbridge and around the commonwealth eagerly welcomed daylight.
A Plows-Eye View Of A Blizzard
In the overnight hours, falling and wind-blown snow made their job almost impossible. “At times, visibility was zero,’’ said Highway Superintendent Robert Van Meter as he plowed Quaker Street on his way to the Shining Rock community.
Usually snow can be plowed while driving about 30 mph, he said. The average speed Friday night into Saturday morning, as plow drivers fought against the blizzard of 2013, was 5 mph, he said.
“Sometimes we had to completely stop because we couldn’t see anything,’’ Van Meter said.
In addition, with snow falling at a rate of up to 3 inches per hour and drifting and blowing, the same roads had to be plowed over and over again just to keep them passable.
As a result, Van Meter and his crew were behind schedule as the sun rose and they began the process of “pushing back.’’ In that process, plow drivers start widening the road with the goal of clearing it curb to curb.
The job of sidewalk plowing would have to wait until Sunday after he and his crew had a chance to sleep after working 30 for more hours.
The snow-removal operation began Friday morning at around 9, the start of the storm, with the spreading salt and sand. That keeps the roads from icing over at the start of the storm.
Once snowfall gets heavy, however, salt and sand won’t work, Van Meter explained. Sand gets covered by snow and ice can’t melt the snow fast enough. The only effective tool is the plow.
For Robert Van Meter, the Blizzard of 2013, also known as Nemo, will go down in his history as the worst he’s ever seen. He was in the service, not a Department of Public Works employee, during the Blizzard of 1978, to which this weekend’s storm is being compared.
In addition to Van Meter, six Department of Public Works employees, three waste water treatment plant employees and 15 independent contractors were on the town’s 82 miles of road all night, each assigned a specific area.
Van Meter said he saw few people violating the governor’s travel ban, which will be lifted Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
Comments (35)
Just heard that the state is going to send equipment to the cities and towns to help them out tomorrow. I do not know which towns will see them first, but atleast they are going to help.
Union Man,
Thank's for the FYI, during the Blizzard of 1978 the State and FEMA did a similar course of action to help Cities and Towns.
So everyone is outraged about the work being done by an understaffed DPW, I am sure the next time there is a budget increase request by the DPW to hire more staff the same people will be outraged that we are spending money and increase our property tax on wasteful spending such as the DPW. You get what you pay for folks, if our property tax rate is 30% less then the 11 surrounding towns then we have less money to spend on services such as road maintance and plowing. If you want to have our roads look like Uxbridge, Sutton or Grafton look at their tax rates, there budget for DPW and other services and stand up and vote for better services funded by the town through higher tax rates. If you are fine with what you pay in taxes now then enjoy the roads and stop your complaining.
whderv,
Excellent points, hopefully some day our DPW may have a sufficient annual Town Budget.
This Taxpayer wish's to 'Thank' our DPW, they did the best job possible in my opinion, relative to the points and comments whderv has posted.
The town did a terrible job during this storm compared to several of the surrounding town. Church Street and Main Street was unacceptable for the condition earlier today. Even during the storm the storm I saw more contractors clearing our roads then town truck. As I drove through many of the surrounding town I did observe that at least their main streets had been cleared and down to bare pavement. The town gets a (C) for this storm.
The DPW has very few full time employees. They also typically have equipment that is broken or malfunctioning. The reasoning for this is because none of it can be maintained properly because it is always kept outdoors and rusts. Hence, why they have been trying to get a new facility. So stop blaming everything on the DPW, they can't help the fact that their equipment sucks, or that they only have funding for so many employees.
Also you go try and stay awake and plow/sand for 30+ hours at a time with no sleep. They are doing the best they can with the resources they have available. Surrounding towns that have roads that appear better have: larger DPW departments, better facilities, and road wise are smaller than Northbridge. So unless you personally are going to go out there and put your money where your mouth is, please stop taking out your hatred on the DPW every time it snows.
Where are the plows now? Haven't seen any on East St. yet today.
OK people how about putting some blame on the plow drivers bosses, the drivers do what they are told, and work hard it's so easy for you too sit in your front window complaining about the conditions of the road. (arm chair quarterbacks) My only complaint is WHY was the DPW super. out in a plow truck plowing instead of checking on his men and contractors? As for the DPW workers you did a great job, thank you.
union man,
Do you complain that the DPW Supervisor is without communication with his "MEN"?
To imply this is to be unaware as to how communications work these days or to try to further inflame the negative feelings towards the management of the DPW.
UPSO please get a life and do not reply to any of my post unless you really know what your talking about. Amen
union man,
Please get a life and do not reply to any of our post unless you really know what your talking about. Amen
Why not put the blame on the drivers who actually did the plowing? They are the ones who did the horrible job plowing. Go to any neighboring town and the roads are 5x better than the ones in Northbridge. Yes you need to put a lot of blame on the Supervisor, however everyone needs blamed.
Why is it okay to have a street with only one lane plowed? (Many of the streets in Northbridge)
The DPW workers did a horrible job, for the amount that they were getting paid.
This horrible plowing didn't just happen once. It happens every "storm" that we have. I'm starting to get sick of it. They need to do what we pay them to do.
Not one truck was plowing yesterday and we have about 3" of snow on my street and a lot of streets in Northbridge.
("Armchair Quarterbacks" Pretty sure I've seen you on here complaining about politicans and the job they are doing. Kettle meet pot.)
Duckofangry
Now both you and HomerJ are "All knowing" or "Very well traveled"(During an Emergency") to share this piece of trusted information with us.
Do you sense a "bit of doubt" from us, regarding this information ?
How much do the DPW workers make? Or, do you mean the contract
(plowing) drivers?
Let us know please. Do they get more or less than other Towns for their service? Maybe the Town does not attract the best contract drivers.
How may storms are you counting relating to the current management?
Despite your opinion there were Town DPW plows out yesterday. Are you using selective observation, wishful "facts" or guessing in your opinion?
"Very Well Traveled" -- I was one of the exceptions who did not have the driving ban against, because of where I work and what I do for a living.
"All Knowing" -- I know some of the "contracted" plow guys. They were offered Double Time by their companies to go and plow. DPW workers were in OT (which is time and a half in the state of MA, 40+ hours consititues OT) (due to the amount of hours which they worked.)
"How ma(n)y storms are you counting relation to the current management?"
Three not including the ones from the past two years.
Yes there were DPW plows out yesterday, I personally saw about 10, however none were plowing when I saw them, just sanding, even on snow covered streets.
"Do you sense a "bit of doubt" from us, regarding this information?
Who is "us?"
I don't care if they get more or less than other towns for their service. If you are paid to do a job, do it right or don't do it at all.
Duckofangry,
Us is us.
We are quite satisfied by the Town DPW efforts.
We are also quite satisfied with your answers to our questions.
Given your comments we trust that you are not satisfied by the Town DPW services in spite the fact that you were able to use all the Town roads to do your job, the results of course was "right" or perfect.
"Us is us." Still didn't answer my question. Are you a group of people? An individual who thinks he/she is more than one person? Who is us? Who is we? Drop the ego.
Yes, I was able to use all the town roads, only because of the vehicle that I have. If I had a different vehicle, say a car, it would have difficult.
The fact that they were not plowing yesterday anywhere, nor has my street and many others not have been plowed today, makes their performance sub-par, and sub-par to the surrounding towns.
I believe the article says there are 82 miles of road in Northbridge. One person, ONE, could have touched every mile of road today in one shift.
Duckofangry,
You have tried to make a questioning personal which is your decision and by all means continue, but because it can not be personal you are on the wrong track.
As for "ego" it would be more accurate to use "egos".
Ego is a Latin word meaning "I", which derives from the Greek word "Εγώ (Ego)" meaning "I", often used in English to mean the "self", "identity" or other related concepts.
From a common source:
Ego, one of the three constructs in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche
Ego (religion), as defined in various religions in relationship to self, soul etc.
Ego (spirituality), the "self", "self-concept", "false self", "conceptual identity", or identification with individual existence
Best you do that "math"(Arithmetic) again as to the plowing of 82 miles of road of 20+" of snow by one man. The displayed answer would be a boon for all towns to contract. Is there something "we" missed.
Our day is over.
The math was for today. If you would have read that you would have seen that. So no, it wasn't dealing with 20+", one more pass would make a huge difference, which was easily obtainable by one person working 8 hours.
Go ahead. Keep hiding behind that screenname and telling yourself, that you are a group of people. "You obviously seek attention. Run for municipal office."
It is unlawful to throw your snow into the street so, call the police on your stupid neighbor and don't be afraid to name names.
While I totally understand the exhaustion that all of these drivers must have felt, I have not seen a plow come down my street since Saturday in the middle of the night. The road I barely passable and thanks to the idiot up the street full of snow from their driveway as well. Corners have not been " pushed back" and you can't see a darn thing. I really hope to see someone today after the message I left.
I thought on Friday night they were doing a great job. I never seen so many plows so frequently plowing my street. Yesterday, I did not see ONE plow doing anything. Once again they left a huge 10' wide section of snow in front of my mailbox, the entire length of my front yard which is about 100'.
What type of clowns are they hiring to do this work? I know if I did this poorly at my job, I'd be fired.
Duckofangry,
Most of the Town property owners are cleaning out in front of our mailboxes as the Town one homeowner responsibilities.
Whining!
Whining?
Since when it is my responsibility to clear an area of 10'x100' of ROAD infront of my house? They need to do what they are paid to do...PLOW THE ROADS!
I understand cleaning out infront of my mailbox...but not 10' wide worth of road..I'd be more than happy cleaning out a few feet for them...But they can surely get their plow trucks closer than 10' to my mailbox.
The road I live on, as well as surrounding roads, can only take one car wide.
Duckofangry,
Who said 100 feet.
You should check the mailbox requirements again!
They left a strip of unplowed road in front of my house that measures 10'w x 100'L which is infront of my mailbox.
Leaving it ALL unplowed only allows one car to be able to travel down the road.
Quit being a troll.
Dukofangry,
We think the word would be "trolls".
If what you are trying to say is that they did not plow the road in the front of your house, then we could not agree more with you. Does your mailbox conform to the USPS requirements (See documentation provided by the Town on the internet)?
By the way the Town DPW has not plowed to the curb as yet by what we have read. If you want to receive your USPS mail, we are afraid that you will have to do the job correctly and remove the snow from the DPW plowed area to your mailbox until the curbside plowing is completed.
We recommend that you call the Town DPW for their schedule of curbside plowing. It is recommended by many people that the responsible person to speak to is Mr. Van Meter for best results. You may wish to attend the BOS meeting on Monday night and voice your unhappiness.
Yes, OUR mailbox does conform to the USPS requirement. WE have made a path to OUR mailbox, through the unplowed road. WE hope the mail carrier will get out of their truck and put OUR mail into OUR mailbox.
I have to do the job correctly? What do we pay them to do? They made ONE single lane, and did the job incorrectly the first time.
Did you see some of their driving? I was at the intersection of Benson and Highland on Friday and saw a DPW plow crash into the bid white fence on the right side of the road. He blew out half the fence and then drove away like nothing happened. I am sure the owner's of that property will be pissed.
Raun,
Do you mean to tell the Town that the DPW did not come right back with a crew to fix it? You know for certain that he did not call it in using his available communications. It seams that you have a "beef" with the DPW.
Did you report the incident to the DPW or police before you wrote this comment? We are sure if you reported this to the police before you wrote this it would show up on their log before 02/09/12 - 8:45pm.
Actually I just left the home owner's home and gave them all the info I had. They stated they called the Police & within 10 minutes the Police showed up. Is there a log entry that shows the Police came to their call? They told me the Police response just said it is slippery and said they would call the DPW. The DPW said their plow did not do it. Funny because the homeowners family all saw the plow take off. The only issue I have with the DPW is they think they can damage whatever and leave the scene --criminal. This is not a mailbox or minor damage -this family may have to replace the entire fence if they can't match all the panels. Maybe you would like to pay for it!
If the homeowners and you are correct in your observation we "all" shall pay for it through the Towns Insurance coverage, along with the homeowners insurance company. We believe that if the homeowner has property insurance they will automatically be covered by the $40K (Normal) out buildings etc....
How did you personally discover that the DPW (That is one driver) denied doing this damage. If it was a contract driver their insurance will cover the damage trusting the depositions are credible.
Yes! The trouble the homeowners have to tolerate is stressful and time consuming and best not to happen.
The question: Was it on the police log before you wrote the comment to the Daily Voice?
Eaun,
As we thought!
You complained in a public medium before calling the authorities.
You obviously seek attention!
Run for municipal office.
Good joke. Too bad all the towns around Northbridge are down to the pavement and nearly all northbridge roads still have snow
Homer J,
You are "All knowing" or "Very well traveled"(During an Emergency") to share this piece of trusted information with us.
Do you sense a "bit of doubt" regarding this information from us?