LAWRENCE: The snow keeps coming

By Lea Kahn
   The latest snowstorm in a series of winter white-outs roared through Lawrence Township and Mercer County on Wednesday, snarling morning commuter traffic and threatening to do the same for the evening commute as The Ledger went to press.
   The snow, which began falling around 6:30 a.m., resulted in the closing of Cold Soil Road for about an hour or so after six cars slid off the road and into the ditch, according to police Sgt. Michael Yeh. The road was closed so the cars could be towed out of the ditches and snowplow trucks could clear it and salt it, he said.
   A school bus headed for one of the Lawrence Township public schools became stranded on Cold Soil Road when it could not it make up a slight incline, Sgt. Yeh said. The five students aboard the bus were transferred to another school bus and made it safely to school, he said. A heavy tow truck was called in to remove the stranded school bus.
   The snow became compacted and created slick conditions, causing the cars to slide off the road and the school bus to become stuck on the incline, Sgt. Yeh said. The cars and the school bus could not gain traction on the slick road surface.
   Cars were also reported to have slid off the road on Princeton Pike and Route 206 Wednesday morning, but Sgt. Yeh attributed most of those mishaps to the drivers traveling too fast for the road conditions.
   Meanwhile, the Lawrence Township Department of Public Works dispatched its first trucks at 6:30 a.m. to apply to salt to the main roads, said Greg Whitehead, the director of Public Works. The four trucks were soon joined by additional snowplows to clear the streets and salt them.
   Mr. Whitehead said he expected the snowplows to be on the road all day Wednesday and through Wednesday night. The crews will focus on the main roads and then the secondary roads. He said the crews would begin to clear the other streets Thursday.
   ”We will try to clear the roads as best we can for the (Wednesday afternoon) rush hour,” Mr. Whitehead said.
   The Lawrence Township public schools opened on time Wednesday, but no early closing was anticipated, according to the Office of the Superintendent. After-school activities for Wednesday were canceled, however.