City b-r-r-races for bad winter
$24M put in budget for storms
New Englanders typically throw salt to ward off bad luck, but Chris Osgood, Boston’s chief of streets, didn’t think it such a good omen when the specter of black ice for yesterday’s morning commute required public works to go through more than 2,500 of its 44,000 tons of stockpiled road salt before Turkey Day.
The good news is, it was on hand.
“Preparing for winter and responding to a storm is not something you do the day of,” Osgood said during an announcement on winter preparedness with Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “We take absolutely every single storm and every single threat of a storm in Boston seriously.”
Walsh said the city is sitting comfortably on a $24 million winter storm budget even as his snow and ice-removal gurus gird for snowfall amounts “a bit more than average.”
Today’s arctic blast threatened to drive temperatures to record lows for Thanksgiving.
In addition to frigid and blustery conditions bottoming out in the teens and low 20s, the National Weather Service issued a wind-chill advisory for the eastern slopes of the Berkshires, where wind chills were forecasted to feel like 15 degrees below zero.
Not so great for that trip over the river and through the woods to grandma’s house.
“We’re anticipating the coldest Thanksgiving on record in Boston,” Walsh confirmed.
Public works has 800 pieces of snow-fighting equipment at its disposal between the city and contractors. The war machine is fortified by a new 10wheel dump truck and a third truck now modified to scoop snow off main arteries and blow it directly into parks or the backs of other trucks.
“We have an old fleet in the city and I’d like to replace it all tomorrow,” Walsh said, “but it’s very expensive. It’s amazing what they’re doing with some of the trucks here. They’re keeping them alive for a couple more years probably after they should be retired.
“We have more equipment to service our growing bike network,” he said, stressing cleared bike lanes will be a priority.
With 100 snow inspectors responsible for patrolling 850 curb miles of roadway, just don’t expect public works Deputy Commissioner Michael Brohel to start shopping for drones as substitute watchdogs.
“Our best view of the streets and their condition is a person looking at it to make sure it was treated, it was plowed, it was pushed back,” said Brohel. “The human in the street, looking at the quality, looking at the safety, is worth a lot."