S.B. cleanup of year-end northeaster goes smoothly
Hit with over 15 inches,
storm cost township
approximately $62,000
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — The tab is in for Saturday’s intense snowstorm.
Public Works Director Ray Olsen estimated, Tuesday, that the storm, which dumped over 15 inches of snow on the township, will cost $62,805.
The cleanup required 510 tons of salt at a cost of $14,943, 90 tons of sand at a cost of $1,652 and $775 worth of chemicals. The biggest cost, $46,416, was for labor.
The storm, which formed late Friday night off the Carolinas, shot up the coast with precipitation that continued throughout much of Saturday.
Some locations in the northern part of the state received 25 inches before it was over in the evening.
"It was a lot less than 1996," said Olsen, explaining the historic storm crippled the Garden State and much of the Eastern Seaboard for several days, dumping about 28 inches of snow and bringing along high winds which cost the township twice as much as last weekend’s storm.
"This was a lighter snow, and the wind wasn’t as bad," Olsen said, noting that the snow was more like a powder compared to the heavier, wetter snow in the 1996 storm.
Although the storms were comparable, Olsen said that this one was easier to deal with. Some 48 township employees started clearing the roads at about 4 a.m. Saturday morning and continued until about 9 p.m. the following day.
Overall, the township dispatched 43 plowing units of different types to clear the roadways.
"My guys did an outstanding job," Olsen said, explaining that the snow was falling as fast as two inches an hour, causing near whiteout conditions, making it hard to see the road.
Despite the intensity of Saturday’s storm, Olsen said that a 20-year-old plan, which has been upgraded over the years to include new roadways, helped employees stay on top of potential problems. "You are going to win in the end, but you have to have a plan," he said.
In addition to the roads, township employees cleared approximately five miles of sidewalk using snow blowers.
"We tried to get the snow as far back [to the curb] as we could" away from vehicle and pedestrian pathways, Olsen said.
Olsen said that with a plan in place, Saturday went by with few problems.
"There were some breakdowns," he said, but maintenance crews were able to get many of those vehicles back on the road in about 15 minutes.
"They were very responsive," Mayor Debra Johnson said of the Public Works Department.
The mayor said that everyone was in contact with one another throughout the day, and many residents called to express their pleasure with the crews’ efforts.
"We have always had an excellent Public Works Department," the mayor added.
Olsen said that residents also helped by keeping cars off the street. "People moved their cars voluntarily," he said.
The Middlesex County Office of Emergency Management declared a snow emergency at 1:10 p.m. for the county and told residents to remove cars from the roads to allow plows to come through.
Olsen and Johnson said that they inspected roads in the Princeton Gate condominium development at about 7 p.m. that were still covered and decided to clear them.
"Residents had not seen a plow by 6 or 7 p.m.," Olsen said. "The contractor did not do it," he said, noting that the contractor would be billed for the work.