Community Corner

Drew: 100% of City Streets to be Passable by Late Sun

Dan Drew says city crews, supplemented by private contractors, have been working non-stop since Friday morning and police are strictly enforcing traffic laws to keep the streets of Middletown safe.

 

Editor's note: 9 p.m. Sunday: If you are on Facebook, you may want to check out Middletown Patch's page here. Dozens of residents are posting real-time statuses on our photos of which streets are and are not yet plowed around the city.

Update 6 p.m.

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Mayor Drew announced late Sunday that he was closing city hall Monday for all but essential workers and said 100 percent of Middletown streets were expected to be cleared by late Sunday evening.

Original version

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The mayor has declared that roughly 80 percent of city streets are “passable” Sunday afternoon as crews are operating at 100 percent capacity.

Mayor Dan Drew is driving around Middletown streets in the fire chief’s SUV after his city-issued Crown Victoria was buried in the snow.

“‘Passable’ means that cars can move, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be pretty. The roads are still very narrow, things are extremely clogged,” Drew says.

“We’re working as quickly and as diligently as possible,” the mayor says, but it will take a while before all city streets are sufficiently cleared. “It’s not anywhere where we want it to be and it’s going to be a while before we get to the rest.”

The mayor urges residents to stay home, especially motorists driving around just to look. “We’re asking people to stop walking on the streets,” Drew says. “Police are going to start strictly enforcing existing traffic laws because it’s too much. We just can’t have people out like this it’s actually impeded police operation at this point.”

He praises city crews for their diligence in clearing streets. Plow drivers, he says, have been working non-stop.

“No one has come off of the roads since the storm began,” Drew says. “We started plowing very early Friday morning and we continued to plow throughout the storm.”

Private contractors have been working in addition to every available public works, water and sewer, and parks and recreation crew.

Meanwhile, Middletown Patch reader Linda Heidorn offered some tips for parents who are looking for fun indoor activities for their children on Monday, when classes are cancelled.

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