By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton and the rest of Mercer County missed the brunt of the snowstorm that blanketed parts of northern New Jersey and the northeast over the weekend.
An estimated 6 to 7 inches fell on the town, far less than a foot or more that other communities had to dig out from under. Snowfall totals fell within that range in other Mercer County towns, from as little as 5 inches in Ewing to a little more than 7 in Lawrenceville.
The Princeton Public Works Department had 25 crewmembers clearing 118 miles of municipal roads beginning Friday and continuing into Saturday morning. Don Hansen, director of the department, said Monday that 200 tons of salt had to be used during the cleanup.
In addition the streets, the department cleared 20 miles of bike paths, parking lots and Borough Hall and the main municipal building. He said the storm hit later than originally anticipated, as officials monitored weather reports.
The consolidated department has had smaller snows to contend with, but this was the first major one to face the DPW. The clean up got done around 10 a.m. Saturday, as Mr. Hansen was pleased with the response.
Clean up costs have not been calculated, by they were “nothing more than the ordinary,” said Princeton Administrator Robert W. Bruschi in an email Monday.
Earlier Friday, around 1:15 p.m., there was an accident involving a public works vehicle, travelling east on Stuart Road, that was hit by an oncoming Mazda M3. There were no injuries, but the other driver was issued a summons, according to Princeton police.
The Princeton Public Library closed early Friday in advance of the storm hitting. But the approaching storm was not reason enough to keep the Princeton University men’s basketball team from playing Friday night, as an announced crowd of 1,833 watched the Tigers beat Brown 63-46.
According to the university, the basketball game was one four sporting events at the school Friday.
”Because the reports all projected the heavy stuff to be more north, and since the majority of the snow in the area wasn’t scheduled until later in the evening anyway, we decided to play all of the events,” said Craig D. Sachson, director of athletic communications, in an email Monday.
The university had 110 of its grounds and building services staff clearing campus of snow, with 30 contractors handling off-campus residential properties, said university spokesman Martin Mbugua on Monday.
