As city workers shifted from plowing snow to hauling it off of city streets, Mayor Toni Harp stopped by public works headquarters to thank street crews for logging long hours to keep New Haven safe.
Harp shared that message in an unannounced noontime visit Friday to the main Department of Public Works (DPW) building on Middletown Avenue. Click the play arrow to hear her speak.
Her visit came as the city dug out from Winter Storm Pax, which dumped 9 to 11 inches of snow on New Haven Thursday and Friday morning. The storm, which came on top of 8 inches of existing snow, posed a special challenge to city plow-drivers, who had to navigate narrow streets where cars had not been removed.
All city streets were passable by Friday mid-morning, according to public works chief Doug Arndt. So the city shifted from snow plowing to snow removal Friday afternoon.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
That work began on the streets around Ingalls Rink, where the Yale hockey team was set to take on Quinnipiac University Friday night.
During a Friday lunch break, as plow-truck drivers munched on pizza in DPW lunch room, Harp showed up with her chief of staff and spokesman. In brief remarks, Harp said she wanted the drivers to know how important their work has been over the last day. Because they cleared the streets, people can get to the hospital, go for dialysis treatment, and avoid car accidents, she said.
“This has been a grueling winter because of all the different storms,” she said. “I that know you’re tired. I know you have to face irritable residents, people who call you names sometimes, people who are totally upset by this weather.”
“I just want you to know that I appreciate it, that I thank you, that I value the work that you do on behalf of our town,” she said. “You have met our expectations and surpassed them.”
Plow drivers showed up for work at 5 a.m. on Friday, after working up to 18-hour shifts the day before. Dave Lawlor took the wheel of a Dodge Ram 5500, equipped with an 8‑foot plow. At 11 a.m., he was weaving between cars on side streets in East Rock and Fair Haven.
The hardest part of plowing? “It’s the cars,” Lawlor said. “For some reason they won’t park in driveways.” He pointed out empty, un-shoveled driveways on streets crowded with cars.
On Mill River Street, word came over the radio: The “MT” tractor was stuck in the snow at Chapel and East streets. Driver Kenny Belardinelli (pictured) said the tractor, equipped with a massive snowblower, had slipped sideways. It was leaning heavily against a chain-link fence.
Lawlor didn’t have a chain to pull out the MT. A payloader later hauled the machine back to stable ground.
After lunch and Harp’s pep talk, DPW supervisor Lynnwood Dorsey announced a new assignment. It was time to switch to removing snow. There was nowhere left to push the snow on the streets, he said.
He sent trucks and payloaders to Sachem and Prospect streets, near the Yale hockey rink.
Payloaders piled snow into dump trucks and a tractor trailer, making way for the estimated 3,500 hockey fans expected to descend on Ingalls Rink Friday night.