Three days after Monday's massive blizzard, around 70,000 people in Massachusetts still don't have electricity, the vast majority of whom are Eversource customers. Click here for the utility company's town-by-town estimates for when power will be restored. Now to the news: Many streets in Boston are noticeably clearer this week than they were following the last big storm in January. In an interview on Morning Edition, Mayor Michelle Wu said it's in part due to a snow removal strategy the city tried "for the first time ever." WBUR's Rob Lane explains: - How it works: There are two main parts to Boston's snow cleanup operations: plowing and removal. Boston runs plows all day and night during storms. But during big storms, they run out of room to put the snow. "When there's so much of it, plowing the streets often then means messing up the sidewalks that have been plowed, or the bike lanes, and then it's a game of just shoving it from one place to another," Wu said. That's where removal comes in. After the storm, the city brings in large trucks and front loaders to pick up the snow and haul it away to snow farms, where the snow is stored and melted.
- What the city did differently: Wu said Boston had historically only removed snow at night to minimize disruptions to traffic and parking. But after this storm, the city kept its parking ban on main streets in place longer than usual — until 6 p.m. Tuesday — giving crews an extra eight hours of daylight for removal.
- The tradeoff: Wu said the city had never done such an extended parking ban for daytime snow removal before, because it's "a burden for residents to not be able to put their cars where they usually have them, often closer to their homes, and to keep them in the garages and not use them." But she suggested the change was worth it and that it helped the city reopen schools. "It was just hundreds of truckloads that we were able to do," Wu said.
- What's next: Wu said the city is also looking at new approaches when it comes to clearing sidewalks. For "priority" areas near schools, senior centers or high-traffic places, Wu said they're exploring the idea of not just issuing fines to property owners who haven't cleared sidewalks, but also "have city workers go in, clear those sidewalks, and then charge the owners also for the work that was done."
Stayed tuned for more takeaways from Wu's Morning Edition interview on our website. Parking the bus: On-site parking for World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium will be extra-limited this summer. WBUR's Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez reports only 5,000 of the Foxborough stadium’s 20,000 parking spots will be available during the seven match days, due to an expanded security perimeter that will take up many spots. - So... how are people going to get there? Gillette Stadium fits a total of 65,000 people, so officials say public transit will be key. The MBTA has committed to transport 20,000 people via commuter rail. During a MassDOT board meeting yesterday, T advisor Rod Brooks said that will require an unprecedented number of trips: "Up to 14 trains, leaving at about 15 minute intervals."
- What else? There are also talks of running buses from other parts of the state and Rhode Island. Andrea has more on the newly revealed plans here.
On Beacon Hill: After a little February break of its own, the Massachusetts Legislature is back in action. Leaders in both chambers are expected to vote on (and pass) several bills today, from energy affordability to grocery store shelves. P.S.— Boston residents have until 6 p.m. today to remove space savers from the street. After that, they become illegal in all neighborhoods and the city's trash crews will take them during their regular rounds — no exceptions for if they're really creative. (And for those of you outside of Boston, your space saver was probably already illegal.) |
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