60-65% of Baltimore side streets still not cleared, city says
Update from Mayor Rawlings-Blake and other officials on the second day after the storm
Above: Snow – and a snowplow stuck in it – blocked 37th Street in Hampden yesterday.
Providing an update for the media, city officials this morning said that – despite the efforts of crews using some 1,200 pieces of equipment – most of Baltimore’s secondary roadways remain clogged with snow.
Asked how many of the smaller streets have been cleared, transportation director William Johnson said as of last night “between 35 and 40%.”
Larger roads are clear, but Baltimore’s 3,600 lane miles are difficult to clean out in many neighborhoods given the amount of snow and the parked cars clogging narrow roadways, Johnson said.
Speaking of parked cars, officials noted, the city has so far towed 347 vehicles from marked Snow Emergency Routes.
How to determine where your car has been taken? Call 311 came the answer.
The city’s non-emergency operators have a list of the make, model and license plate number of the cars removed and the location from which they were towed, Johnson said.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said streets near schools were being given priority so that students could get back to school.
311 Flooded with Calls for Plows
Hearing from city officials that half of Baltimore’s local streets were plowed last night was cold comfort to the other half.
With many still submerged under more than two feet of snow and needing to get to work, to the store or just out of the house, complaints were sounding increasingly desperate.
“High snow and ice!” said a resident of Nottingham Road in Edmondson Village this morning.
“48 hours and no snowplow???” someone on Chesley Avenue in Northeast Baltimore protested.
Parked cars, moving cars, snow shovelers and more made Keswick Road a busy place yesterday. (Photo by Fern Shen)
It wasn’t just the small streets either.
“Belair Road not plowed, Broadway not plowed,” someone else complained this morning.
“Citizens can’t leave houses with Patapsco st and Harden Court both unplowed,” came a request from South Baltimore.
Without a plow-out today, a woman who works at a nursing home worried she could lose her job.
She stayed home today, she said, but her bosses “weren’t pleased.” she explained her situation on Facebook.
“I couldn’t drive down my street and my car is parked on Harford Road,” she wrote.
“I couldn’t bear the walk to my car today because it took me 40 minutes to walk from my car to my house last night which was only 4 blocks,” she said. “Is Chesley Ave. 21234 and Kildaire Ave. going to get plowed at all? I can’t call out of work tomorrow.”
Unscientific, but Still, a Poll
Looking to see whether the city will improve on its poor performance during the 2010 “Snowmageddon” storm, the Baltimore Elections Facebook asked readers:
“Has your city street seen a city plow come through yet?”
The answers as of this morning:
Yes: 100
No: 68
They do not plow my street ever: 24
City Asks for Patience
City officials asked for patience as crews worked to remove the biggest single-day snowfall ever recorded in Baltimore.
A Phase II Snow Emergency remained in effect, meaning only cars with snow tires may be on the roads.
Baltimore DOT Tweeted this photo, warning, they are still towing cars parked in Snow Emergency Routes.
With schools, non-essential city government and many businesses closed today, officials were asking for people to stay off the roads if possible.
Here’s some of what Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was saying earlier on Twitter.
“5K of rds +3,5K miles smaller neighborhood sts/snow removal complicated/have 2 lift snow into dump trucks & carry out #patience #baltsnow“