Small streets remain a challenge for Phila. plows

    More than 350 city trucks are on the roads with one focus – clear secondary and residential streets. Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson says that plowing process takes much longer on smaller streets than it does on well traveled roads.

    After three days preparing for and battling Philadelphia’s second largest snow storm, the Streets Department calls off the snow emergency. But what does that mean for residents tucked away on the city’s unplowed side streets?

    Listen:
    [audio: 091221mpsnow.mp3]

    More than 350 city trucks are on the roads with one focus – clear secondary and residential streets.

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    Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson says that plowing process takes much longer on smaller streets than it does on well traveled roads.

    Tolson: We have to use equipment that has a tougher time working with 23 inches of snow. So where a street can take less than 1 minute approx 30 seconds to tackle what they did plow, when we get to some of our smaller streets we take approx 40 minutes in those streets trying to do the same job.

    Tolson says 2300 of the city’s nearly 2600 streets have already been treated and crews will most likely work through the night to finish. The Streets Department has also begun ticketing residents who have not yet cleared a 30 inch path in the sidewalk in front of their homes.

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