As winter is upon us and fall has already produced a few storms, the Borough road crew would like to inform residents of snow removal policies, and give suggestions, to help make our streets and sidewalks safe for everyone.  This is a general policy and each storm will dictate how it is implemented and what adjustments will be made.

For winter storms the Borough is divided into two sections; East and West, with North and South Broad Streets being the dividing line.  The Borough has two plow trucks, and each is assigned a section to maintain with anti-skid and plows. The order in which streets are plowed are prioritized by the traffic volume.  The first being major arteries with continual traffic.  The second, being collector streets and hills; streets that intersect with local streets and carry traffic to the major arteries.  The third, being local streets; streets with limited traffic mainly to homes, and forth, being Borough parking lots.

The Borough of East Bangor has 9.08 lane miles of streets, along with 5.6 lane miles of state road to maintain each storm.  Our first object is to treat each road with anti-skid when the storm starts.  Once the storm has reached a plowable amount the trucks will plow open each road to make them passable and maintain that until the storm has ended.  When the storm has ended each street will be plowed back curb to curb where accessible, and from the parked cars to the curb on streets with parking.  This allows for drainage of melted snow to run to storm drains and room for future snow, while keeping the streets wide and passable.  Where parking is allowed, snow will be plowed to the non-parking side to eliminate parking problems from snow piles made when shoveling out vehicles.  The following day if parking areas are clean of vehicles the plow will then plow the parking side to the curb.

Suggestions for residents to help make the snow removal effort more effective and efficient are as follows:

Vehicle Parking:  If at all possible, park vehicles off the roadway in driveways if available.

Shoveling Sidewalks:  If you only want to shovel one time wait until the street is plowed back to the curb and plowing is done.  When shoveling, throw the snow into your yard not the curb or outside edge of sidewalk.  By doing this you are leaving the curb open for run off and drainage.  Snow left in curb, when plowed in future storms, will be ice and hard.  This makes for more difficult shoveling and may break shear pins in snow blowers.  Also by removing snow from side walks and putting it in your yard it can not melt and re-freeze making your sidewalk icy and requiring more attention.  Just remember any snow left in curb will be plowed onto the sidewalk in future storms, so don’t complain.

Driveways:  Once again wait until street is plowed back to curb to do the last 6’ of driveway or until plowing is done.  Don’t make piles at the end of your driveway for they may overflow into the streets, or become large and obstruct vision when pulling out.

Above all please be patient and allow the employee’s time to do their jobs in plowing the streets.  Plowing snow is a job where there is never a thank you and always a complaint.  Hopefully, this will help residents understand why streets are plowed in the manor they are, and eliminate some of the complaints.  If there are any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the Borough garage at 610-588-5962 or the Borough secretary at 610-588-4656.

Thank you for your patients and cooperation.