County Council President Roger Berliner has asked the county’s Department of Transportation to publicly announce the order in which streets will be plowed after snow falls this winter.
“I understand there are rational reasons as to why the snow plowing order is the way it is,” Berliner wrote in a letter to Transportation Director Al Roshdieh. “I understand that primary and emergency roads must come first and that the order for clearing remaining streets can change slightly based on the characteristics of individual snow events. But we have an obligation to let people know in advance what the reality is, especially if the Department believes its current system is the most safe and efficient.”
Transportation department spokeswoman Esther Bowring said the department is reviewing the request.
In his letter, Berliner suggested incorporating the list as part of the Winter Storm Information Portal. The portal was unveiled Dec. 1 as a one-stop information website for county residents dealing with wintry weather. Residents can use the portal to find out the snow removal status of an individual street, to submit a snow-removal request, and to find out who is responsible for clearing snow from a street.
Last year, when a winter storm dumped 18 to 39 inches of snow on the region, the county’s online snow map exasperated many people because it didn’t provide real-time plowing updates.
