Town officials are asking that residents be patient as crews work to remove the snow dumped across the county by a series of storms.
The heavy snowfall has narrowed roads, consumed parking spots and left intersections with high banks. Complicating public snow removal efforts is the need for residents to clear their own driveways, sometimes resulting in snow being left in public roadways.
State law says that “[a] person may not place and allow to remain on a public way snow or slush that has not accumulated there naturally.” The issue that local crews were dealing with, Wilton Town Manager Rhonda Irish said in an email Thursday, was that snow pushed into a roadway could freeze and cause damage to plows and other equipment.
“We want people to be aware that town crews are doing the best they can for clearing snow, winging back snow banks and trying to widen the streets back out again, as well as get the sidewalks plowed and the fire hydrants cleared out,” she said. “All of this will take time, but town workers are still out there.”
Town Manager Richard Davis agreed, thanking residents for their patience and understanding. “These guys have been pushing it around the clock,” he said of the town crews. “We can’t be everywhere at once.”
Of particular concern are intersections, where high banks can obstruct sight lines. Davis asked that people be careful and take extra time to ensure the road was clear before they made a turn.
“We’re all in the same boat,” Davis said.
Too bad more prep work before the biggest storm was not done. My “town” road
Is a one lane path and has been for weeks now. Two vehicles can not pass each other.
Hoping this is addressed soon. Hard to be patient when this could have been fixed two weeks ago!
I agree with Wilton Resident…inbetween storms, crews should have been out removing the already high banks. Our road is also very narrow, and a connecting road is barely one lane. No one can see to get out of our driveways…the situation is very dangerous…
The storms have been over for days now, and still nothing has been done on our roads here..
I only hope there are no serious accidents while we wait “patienly”
Go get a shovel Wilton resident.
The plow crews have been doing a good job this winter. Between the mix of rain and snow early on, to the heavy snowfall as of late. keep up the good work !!!! To anyone who thinks they can do better go ahead and volunteer your nights weekends and every spare minute you have during a storm and go do it yourself !!!!!
Hey Mike I wonder if you could work a deal out with our towns . If we get our shovels out and clean out own snow up maybe we can get a discount off our land taxes !!! Sounds like a heck of deal to me !
A followup, during the last few days the Wilton Crew has done a great job with removing snow. We have had record amounts over the last two weeks, and the piles/snow plow berms were huge. Thank you for getting out there and pushing back a lot of the snow to widen roads, and improve visibility, along with clearing the sidewalks all the way to where they end near the Rt 2 blinker. 40 to 50 inches of snow in two weeks is a big deal…Thanks for working hard to get caught up!
Snow is expected in this area. The difficulty is when it comes all at once in large quantities. I think road crews are working long and hard doing there best with what they have. They also have their own personal properties to struggle with keeping up with the snow. I suggest banding together to help rather than critics. How about using labor from the incarcerated folks? The MBTA did that in MA during 2015 to clear the tracks. How about a program to work off debt to the town? Doesn’t the hospital have a debt relief program? A community service project for the high school? Snow is gonna happen in this area. Let’s get creative with a solution rather than criticize hard working folks.
Using people incarcerated is a fine idea in theory but it presents a lot of problems. For 1, the ACLU, then there is clothing, equipment, liability. ” Ouch, my back “. Etc.
I think the road crews have done a fine job given the task at hand and I thank them. People should take the severity of the weather into account, slow down, take a few extra minutes.
I don’t believe that the people whining realize how much time the crews are putting in trying to keep everyone happy.Its winter in Maine deal with it or move on.I do not work for any highway dept. But I do appreciate their effort.
Mike and @Mike, I like the ideas. A work for tax brake deal! I bet there are a few hard working individuals that would bite at that.
Unfortunately we should have listened to the 1970’s environmental ‘scientists’. Global cooling is now a reality. I hope we can still save the earth.
I was amazed at how much snow had been removed overnight last week (while I slept) , I think Thursday to Friday. I can’t imagine keeping up with all of this. I am appreciative of all of the hard work from the plowers, sanders and shovelers. Thank you!