Snow problems or s'no problems

Warwick — Finally, snow. Kids were happy but some commuters weren’t quite as thrilled. With last week’s Tuesday night snow turning to ice and sleet all morning on Wednesday, then back to snow in the afternoon, roads were not at their best. But it was the first significant snowfall in the area, and while some praised the job done by local Department of Public Works employees, others did not. “None of the roads from here to Middletown were plowed,” said Felix Louisot, a 30-year resident of the Village of Warwick who works in Middletown. “I usually take the back roads to work, but I took (Route) 17 instead.” Louisot was particularly miffed by, what he called, the “lack of plowing” done on his street, Southern Lane. “Years ago, the first snow flake fell and plows would be out,” he said. “Last Wednesday, Valentine’s Day, I went to work and the roads weren’t plowed. I came home at 1:30 in the afternoon and they still weren’t plowed. I was home working all afternoon and a plow didn’t go up my street until 5:30 that night. They didn’t start plowing until 5:30.” That’s not how Steve Sisco, the village’s DPW supervisor, sees it at all. “We started sanding and salting at 9 o’clock on Tuesday night,” said Sisco. “We did that until midnight. On Wednesday, we were out plowing all day. I have four routes and they were all done every four to five hours. We got done about 11 o’clock Wednesday night.” On Thursday, Sisco said they did more salting and sanding and by Friday, his crews were removing the snow from Main Street and the parking lots throughout the village. Louisot agreed that the roads were fine by Thursday morning but questioned what the crews throughout the area, not just in Warwick, waited for. “It was ice pellets all morning but turned to snow around 1 in the afternoon,” said Louisot. “It snowed all afternoon. If they had kept up on it throughout the day, they would have been done earlier and the roads would have been better all day. I don’t mean to be a complainer. It’s a safety issue.” Safety is probably the reason the roads didn’t seem to be plowed as well as they could have been. While most of us think plowing should be done immediately, Jeff Feagles, the town’s Department of Public Works superintendent, said that is not always the case. “Rain, freezing rain, is our worst nightmare,” said Feagles. “Snow is easy compared to rain in the winter. It freezes.” Feagles explained that DPWs throughout the county prepped the roads the night before with salt and sand. This provides a membrane on the road for when the precipitation starts to fall. “If we plowed at the beginning, we would have an ice skating rink out there,” Feagles said. Instead, they let the sleet mix with the salt and sand to form a brine, which allows at least some traction. Whenever they plowed, they had to go back out with more materials to coat the road again. This storm was probably the worst possible for a public works department. The freezing rain throughout the night, then snow the following day, caused workers to be out there constantly. Add in the below-freezing temperatures and biting wind chill, and it wasn’t the best of nights. It was expensive, too. After every plowing, they had to spread more salt and sand. “Our guys were out on the road 24 hours straight,” said Feagles. “Conditions were totally against us. We started Tuesday night at 8:30 and didn’t stop until Wednesday night at 8:30. We were back out there Thursday at 4 a.m.” When all is said and done, Feagles knows everyone isn’t always going to be happy. He did receive a mixed bag of calls - some complaints, some compliments. And that’s okay with him. His main purpose is safety. “My job is to make sure the roads are safe,” he said. “We use common sense. There is a science to it.”