TORRINGTON – The City of Torrington is asking citizens to avoid parking along snow routes to assist snow removal efforts for the coming storm.
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TORRINGTON – The City of Torrington is asking citizens to avoid parking along snow routes to assist snow removal efforts for the coming storm.
Goshen County is under a blizzard warning until Thursday evening, and weather.com is projecting 10-18 inches of snowfall and winds as high as 65 mph. With that kind of storm, it’s crucial to keep emergency routes open, said City of Torrington Project Manager Mark Weis.
“With this one being 10-18 inches like they’re calling for, we’re having to clean more roads for emergency services,’ Weis said.
The city will be working to clear every road on the snow route map. These routes are crucial for police, fire and EMS services, as well as tow trucks. According to Weis, it’s not a matter of if the services will be needed during the storm - it’s when.
“With what they’re calling for, we’ve got to clear these off as fast as possible. If we’re working around vehicles, it’s going to make things really difficult,’ he said.
People who live along the snow routes should do whatever they can to park elsewhere. Weis said the heavy equipment used to clear the roads could bury or damage vehicles, and cars along the snow routes make it much more difficult in the case of an emergency.
“We need people to pay attention if they’re on a snow route,” he said. “When we go to do snow removal, if we have to work around their car, it’s very difficult. There’s a good chance your car is going to get stuck there. If they could move their cars in the driveway, maybe move it around the corner, park in front of a neighbors house. If we can get these taken care of it’s going to make transportation to the hospital and the emergency room better. It gets our ambulance around, the police - if somebody is out and about, somebody can get to them.”
Weis said the city will try to make roads passable as soon as possible once the storm breaks.
“We’ve got to wait until the event has calmed down enough to only have to do it once,” he said. “Snow removal is very expensive. You’ve got a lot of manpower and you’ve got expensive equipment out there. We don’t want to do it twice for the same event. That costs the taxpayer money.”
