Clearing the snow Thursday morning.
New York State Department of Transportation Acting Commissioner Paul Karas today (Dec. 30) thanked DOT employees for their tremendous efforts in helping residents in Oswego and Lewis counties dig out from the recent storm, with accumulation of more than five feet of snow in some areas.
At the request of the city of Oswego and the towns of Redfield and Boylston, six snow blower crews and three grader crews endured single digit temperatures to assist with the recent storm cleanup.
These efforts were conducted on top of clean-up efforts on the state road network, which were also in full effect before, during, and after the storm.
Separately, the village of Lowville in Lewis County also requested assistance from DOT, and the agency provided one snow blower crew during an overnight shift on December 28. Crews endured frigid temperatures and completed the work around 7 a.m.
As part of this operation, a state snow blower loaded snow into local trucks as part of a load and haul operation.
Acting Commissioner Karas was on the ground on Thursday to assess the situation in Oswego County and thank employees for their hard work.
“I can’t say enough good things about the team here at DOT, their commitment to helping others, and their dedication to the people who depend on them,” Karas said. “Our crews didn’t hesitate when they were asked for help by their neighbors and we will be out there until the job is done. This was a great team effort utilizing both state and local resources to serve the residents in these hard hit areas.”
According to the National Weather Service, more than 60 inches of snow fell on the towns of Redfield and Boylston, while more than 30 inches fell on the village of Lowville and in the city of Oswego.
Town of Redfield: DOT crews, sharing resources from another region, worked in daylight hours only due to the depth of the snow, finished the job on Friday, December 29.
Crews endured frigid temperatures and the town was very pleased with the department’s response.
Town of Boylston: DOT crews, sharing resources from another region, conducted work on Thursday and Friday and have already finished cleaning up North Church Road, which was the highest priority road identified by the town superintendent.
Work will resume on Tuesday for public safety purposes as the town is expecting an influx of snowmobilers this weekend.
The towns of Redfield and Boylston are very rural and the roads were narrowed due to the heavy accumulation of snow.
While the towns did a great job of maintaining road access by plowing, they were left with snowbanks well more than five feet high in many locations.
DOT assisted the towns by reducing the size of the snow banks using graders equipped with leveling wings and following up with snow blowers to cast the snow far off roadways. The widening of the roadways made travel much safer for motorists and provided easier access for emergency service vehicles.
City of Oswego: Crews endured two brutally cold 12-hour shifts, beginning at midnight on December 29 and again at midnight on December 30, running snowblowers to remove snow from the main routes in the city.
DOT crews used graders to reduce the height of the snowbanks and utilized snowblowers to load trucks that were hired by the city to haul away the snow.
The city laid out the roads to clear snow from and prioritized the order. They also handled traffic control.
Further work by DOT will be evaluated pending progress of the latest operation.
Governor Andrew Cuomo recently urged New Yorkers to take precautions against dangerously cold weather that will be affecting the entire state until January 2.
The New York State Department of Transportation currently has 1,575 large plow/dump trucks, 207 medium plow/dump trucks, 324 loaders, 38 truck/loader mounted snowblowers, 50 tow plows, 19 graders and 14 pickup trucks with plows. The DOT also has nearly 389,000 tons of road salt on hand.
DOT continues to monitor weather forecasts and stands ready to shift resources as necessary to any areas of the state anticipating significant weather conditions.
Motorists are reminded to check 511NY by calling 511, or visiting www.511ny.org before traveling.
The free service allows users to check road conditions and transit information.
Mobile users can download the free 511NY mobile app from the iTunes or Google Play stores. The app features Drive mode, which provides audible alerts along a chosen route while a user is driving, warning them about incidents and construction.
Users can set a destination prior to departing and receive information on up to three routes.
missing or outdated ad config
