Major Mounds Of Snow Being Cleared From Downtown Area

Following several days of clear weather and no new snow to clear from the roadways, the town Department of Public Works is finally able to turn its attention to the huge mounds of snow that have been piling up downtown.

First Selectman Fillmore McPherson said that snow piles from the sides of the Boston Post Road in the downtown retail and restaurant area were cleared Sunday night, and that the Wall Street retail area was scheduled for clean up on late Monday night and early Tuesday. The work is generally done between after midnight and in the very early hours of the morning, to avoid conflicts with traffic, he said.

McPherson said the town did a similar clean up operation in January as well, following several big snowstorms that month. "It's not our practice to do it every single snow storm," he said. "But the piles were getting big and overly intrusive and causing traffic problems."

The state, which is responsible for plowing the Boston Post Road, left piles of snow that stuck out into the roadway from the curb several feet, McPherson said.

The town had budgeted approximately $115,ooo for snow removal operations this year, which is all gone, town officials have said. McPherson said the amount spent over and above that would depend on the number of snowstorms yet to come and declined to venture an estimate as to how much more the town might have to spend.

The town does not plan to dump any of its snow in Long Island Sound, McPherson said. That generally is prohibited, but the state Department of Environmental Protection, is allowing it for municipalities that have exhausted all other options.

But McPherson said the town still has room in parking lots and playing fields.