Town of Oyster Bay's Snow Battle Plan

By Priscila Korb

The Town of Oyster Bay recently prepared an informative brochure that explains snow removal procedures, offers some very important safety tips and lists things residents can do to help in the overall process, according to Councilman Joseph D. Muscarella.

“The Town is always prepared whenever it snows to quickly clear roadways and handle emergency situations, but residents should also have a viable course of action prepared in the event of a snowstorm,” Muscarella said.

Muscarella also stressed to residents that response to storm management differs depending on the storm.

“An off-hand response to the question of how a particular storm will be managed is, ‘It depends,’ but the truth of the matter is that varying conditions make it difficult to provide a precise answer as to how or when particular roads will be treated,” he said.

This means that timely and efficient snow removal is affected by many variables including the day (weekday, weekend or holiday), the time of day or night of the snow event, the amount of the snowfall, wind, ground temperature, temperature changes, and microclimates.

According to Muscarella, the Town’s “battle plan” for snow control is a comprehensive one, but one of the keys to its success is Town residents, who can help by keeping their vehicles off the streets and out of the way of snow-clearing equipment.

If off-street parking is not available, Town law states that residents must park on the side of the street with odd-numbered houses in odd-numbered years, such as 2011, and even-numbered houses in even-numbered years.

One of the major complaints after any major snow storm from local residents is driveway entrances being covered over by plows.

“While we urge residents not to shovel until after the plow has come through their street, many residents can’t wait,” Muscarella said. “If you must clear your driveway before the plow comes, pile the snow on the right side of your driveway (when facing the street) when shoveling. This helps to minimize the pile of snow created by the snowplow at the end of your driveway.”

The Town’s Highway Department has 2,000 pounds of 75 percent salt and 25 percent sand loaded onto ten-wheel trucks ready for when the storm hits.

In addition, 1,500 pounds of the same mixture of salt and sand are loaded onto six wheel sand spreaders.

Designated snow emergency routes, such as main arteries and school bus routes, are sanded and salted first.

Next, salt or sand are applied to feeder streets to allow access to main roads and if the snow accumulates above a few inches, the feeder streets are plowed after the priority roads.

Dead-end streets and cul-de-sacs are then sanded and plowed.

The Highway Department has, through the Geographic Information System, divided the Town’s 750 miles of roadways into 167 individual maps.

Tenwheel trucks are assigned specific areas and issued the appropriate maps. If an area encompasses narrow streets that a ten-wheel truck cannot effectively clear, six-wheelers or four-wheel drive vehicles are used.