New plows and lots of salt highlight Buffalo’s plan to prepare for the upcoming winter season. Western New York has Winter Weather Advisories issued from late Wednesday into Friday morning.
The city has 7,000 tons of salt, 70 plows, and three new vehicles for the start of the season.
Department of Public Works Commissioner Steven Stepniak said the new tandem plow can help clear out a high volume of snow.
“Tandem plows, it’s a dump truck that actually has a plow on the front and we have a wing plow attachment which allows us more coverage,” said Stepniak. “And we use those on the mains streets, which are all your bus routes. Then we have the secondary streets, which are not quite your residential street. They’re heavier volume traffic streets for inner city travel.”
Plow drivers have already had dry runs to prepare for when heavy snowfall arrives. Stepniak is reminding drivers to fill up their tanks before big storms come.
“It’s going to take a little longer to get to where you have to go. Allow yourself that time in the morning. Pay attention to your forecasters and make sure those fluids are filled to capacity. You fill your tank. You fill your windshield wiper solution and you’re ready to go the winter as well and that commute I going to be a little bit longer based on the timing of the snow,” he said.
The city also wants to remind people how important it is to follow parking rules so they can get snow off the roads for drivers, and especially first responders.
“They don’t change in the winter time unless you’re a special designated street, like we had some streets that were designated that were both side parking, but that ends in the winter time,” said Stepniak. “Try to move your car the best you can, because one stuck car on a tight residential street enables the plow to get down there and it really ties up that street extensively.”
Winter parking rules are now in effect as well. From 1:30 AM to 7:30 AM you can’t park on the bus routes.
