City of Philadelphia says it’s getting a handle on snow removal

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 Philadelphia Streets Commissioner Donald Carlton says blowing and drifting snow is compounding the problem.  (Tom MacDonald)

Philadelphia Streets Commissioner Donald Carlton says blowing and drifting snow is compounding the problem. (Tom MacDonald)

The city of Philadelphia says it’s doing its best to clear streets of snow but says some residents are slowing down progress.  

Philadelphia Streets Commissioner Donald Carlton says his staff has a significant issue with people throwing snow into streets and then calling 311 to have their road replowed.

“I believe we have a good handle on it now,” Carlton said. ” We’re not saying everyone is 100 percent satisfied.  We have done a great job with getting primary and secondary streets open, we’ve gotten a lot of the residential and small streets cleared.”

Another problem is blowing and drifting snow.

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“That’s the issue with this storm most of the stuff was not just the actual storm.  We had up to 17 to 18 inches of snow drifts on some city streets, so it’s an ongoing battle.”

The city still has the goal of clearing all through streets by the end of Wednesday.  It’s also working on fixing broken traffic signals at some major intersections, which are compounding traffic problems.

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