HITTIN THE STREETS

AND CLEARING THEM OFF

Elyria – Since Friday afternoon plows have been running non-stop in Elyria and the crews, although exhausted, are still out there hittin the streets and clearing them off.

Mark Sabo of the Elyria Street Department said that his crews have been working around the clock and he sees the light at the end of the tunnel. “Friday we started working 24 hour shifts, after working 24 they will go home for 8 hours then come back for another 24. We are exhausted both physically and staff wise but we will not stop until the job is done and by the looks of the radar and the forecast of warmer weather coming up, it shouldn’t be too much longer.”

Sabo said that during situations like this weekend where a big storm hits the area they pull employees from other departments to assist them in clearing the roadways.

Sabo said that all main roads should be completed by Sunday morning then all trucks will focus on the side streets. “Right now the side streets are being hit by the smaller trucks but there are some streets with snow from the last hit we took and that snow is frozen and making it harder for the smaller trucks to clear those roads. Once all of the main roads are done then the bigger trucks will start hitting the side streets.” Sabo said that although the city of Elyria did not have a parking ban he wished people had moved their cars off the road. “There are some streets down on the south end of town like 7th Street where the houses were built with no driveways, but then you go down a lot of streets where you see the cars parked on the road and the driveways are empty. Now we will get calls from people asking why we plowed their cars in along the street.”

With rumors of the sun making a special appearance Sunday Sabo said they would probably drop salt on the roadways. “We have about 300 ton or so left in there, tomorrow we will salt the intersections, hills and curves and the sun will help it activate.”

Crews had an easier time clearing the roadways Saturday in part because of so many businesses closing. “On Friday our plows were stuck in traffic so it went real slow but today when you have the mall and other places close up, nobody is out on the roads and we can just go strong.”