As the winter of 2014 continues to linger residents across the city can take solace in the fact that that by and large the local public works department has done an admirable job in dealing with a tougher than usual winter season.
The past week alone is proof enough of that.
Beginning with the arrival of a slushy, icy mix on Thursday morning and afternoon, and followed soon after by another Saturday night into Sunday snowfall, the men and women of the Lynn Public Works Department have done a fine job this weekend and all season long, of keeping the city’s streets safe and passable. And, with forecasts for this school vacation week calling for at least one more snow fall (today, Tuesday, Feb. 18) in the coming days, it doesn’t look like Lynn snow plows and salting trucks are done for the year.
Monday was a well-deserved holiday for the Lynn DPW, but on the season so far, Lynn workers have moved an estimated 40-inches or more of snow, depending on which snow totals you believe.
In any case, interim Public Works Director JT Gaucher and his drivers have been on top of things since late December and for the past few storms have had the advantage of several new plows as well. Six new F-250 pick-ups with plows and sanders and two new dump trucks, similarly outfitted, joined the city’s snow removal fleet in January. That new equipment, coupled with departmental changes in snow routes and practices has left Lynn with clear safe streets citywide.
All involved should be congratulated.