By Lea Kahn and Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writers
A weekend blizzard that dumped about two feet of snow on Princeton and surrounding towns – the first major snowfall of the year – resulted in school closings and the cancellation of numerous activities.
Students in the Princeton, West Windsor-Plainsboro, Montgomery and Lawrence public school districts enjoyed a snow day, as school district officials canceled classes on Monday.
The Public Works departments in the five towns worked around the clock to clear snow from the roadways. Crews focused on plowing the main roads, and then moved onto the secondary or side streets.
"With the substantial amount of snow we have experienced, (clearing the roads) is going to be a process that takes of all of the day today (Sunday) and tomorrow to work on. Please be patient as West Windsor has 128 miles of roadway to clear," according a Nixle message posted by the West Windsor Township Police Department.
By Monday morning, all roads in West Windsor were clear, but there were icy patches reported. The trains were running about 20 minutes late Monday morning, and the Dinky was out of service. Bus service was substituted.
Montgomery Township officials reported that by Sunday night, Department of Public Works crews had plowed and made all roads passable. Work would continue during the week to widen the travel lanes.
In Princeton, motorists were advised that on-street parking between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. would be banned, from Friday night through Monday night, to aid in snow removal efforts. Cars were to be parked off-street in private driveways or municipal garages or parking lots.
Drifting snow closed Quaker Road in Princeton, as well as a stretch of Cold Soil Road between Keefe and Carter roads in Lawrence Township, according to the Princeton and Lawrence police departments.
Princeton residents also were advised that the routine Monday trash collection will be picked up Tuesday along with the regular scheduled Tuesday pickup. Recycling collection, which also was set for Monday, was canceled and rescheduled for Jan. 30.
Montgomery Township pet owners were told that the rabies vaccination clinic, set for Saturday, was postponed to Jan. 30 because of the snowstorm.
And as a result of the heavy snowfall, the Princeton Fire Department was called on to clear snow from the rooftops of buildings on Nassau and Witherspoon streets Sunday afternoon. The fire department’s tower truck was put into service so the volunteer firefighters could remove the snow.
For her part, Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert on Monday thanked the various municipal departments that responded to the blizzard — with cleanup still going on.
“I’ve never gotten so many compliments from residents about a snow storm than I did with this one,” she told reporters at her press conference. “Obviously, there’s going to be issues that come up every time, but I feel like our crews did a really commendable job.”
The town said it does not have an amount for how much the cleanup cost, although employee overtime figures to be high given all the hours crews put in over the weekend.
“We don’t have those numbers yet,” said town administrator Marc D. Dashield.
