Highway superintendents and road crews are reporting relatively normal conditions, even after the weekend storm. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

While a winter storm and travel advisory shut down most of the county on Monday, in some areas conditions for plowing remained relatively normal for this time of year.

Clymer Highway Superintendent Scott Trisket said that over the past few days with this storm things have not been too terrible, but that Monday’s travel advisory has also been helpful.

“It’s helpful for us, because the less traffic there is on the roads the better it is for us,” Trisket said. “We don’t have to worry about vehicles on the road, and that’s a good thing.”

Even on Sunday when the snow was worse, Trisket said there was still no trouble. Plows were able to be sent out three times throughout the day.

“Visibility was OK,” Trisket said. “I don’t think it got as bad here as they were calling for.”

Similarly, in the city of Jamestown, Public Works Director Mark Roetzer agreed that less people traveling with the travel advisory helps with plows being able to move around easier.

“Especially with alternate parking, with less cars on the road it makes it easier for crews to go back to where cars were parked last night and plow the other side,” Roetzer said.

The city’s plowing crews are operating in 12 hour shifts, which began at 6 a.m. on Sunday and continued throughout the storm. The day crew ran from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and then crews switched, switching back again on Monday.

While overall things went pretty normal, Roetzer said the colder air also caused a few difficulties.

“We’re used to this kind of weather,” Roetzer said. “It’s fairly normal, though there has been quite a bit of snow. Salt is less effective on the roads with the cold temperatures, but our guys are experienced. Some of them have been plowing for 30 winters, so they know what they’re doing.”

While the weather has certainly been rough, this has not prevented various municipal highway superintendents around the county from leading the plow teams through the harsh conditions. Even though many of the plow teams worked around the clock to manage the roads, the weather seems to have lessened in intensity, allowing the plows to begin to keep the roads cleaned up.

The superintendent for the town of Carroll led a smooth operation, despite having only stepped into the role earlier this month. Chad Allison stated that a key component of the operation going so smoothly was due to residents listening to the state and county warnings, and staying home during the harsh conditions. Allison also noted that in the town, the crews were out for over twelve hours on Sunday, no accidents were witnessed or reported around the town.

“Well, it wasn’t a struggle, it was just a constant fight. Snow kept coming down and we tried to stay after it as much as possible. Kind of struggled getting material to put on the roads, salt and sand, but we’re getting it,” said Allison. “Now with the weather breaking we should be able to get cleaned up within the next couple days.”

The town of Poland saw a crew of workers fighting around the clock to battle the weather as well, with superintendent Don Holt at the lead. Holt noted the greater ease of Sunday, and continuing Monday, due to how few cars were out on the roads. Holt further stated that Monday still saw very little traffic in comparison to usually, largely due to the school and business closures. While Holt noted that the crew was short handed throughout this fight, members managed to keep up and do quite well.

Ellington superintendent William Green faced similar struggles related to staffing during this storm. Green stated that the Ellington crew only has four drivers on the team, all of who worked around the clock to manage the conditions. Green noted that the crew went around the town three times on Sunday alone, with efforts continuing into Monday to continue the clean-up.

“Just take it easy. I mean, [the roads] are going to be slick. You can’t go 100 MPH on them. But no, they’re pretty opened up.”

Ellery Superintendent Greg Hallberg and Gerry Superintendent Brian Anderson both noted similar patterns of traffic in the towns for Sunday. Both stated that there was very little traffic out on Sunday. Both also noted the significant improvement of road conditions going into Monday.

As for the schools, Clymer Central School already had no students coming in on Monday because of a Superintendent’s Day, but the Superintendent’s Day was also canceled along with athletic activities. Other school closings across the local area include; Bemus Point Central School, Brocton Central School, Cassadaga Valley Central School, Chautauqua Lake Central School, Dunkirk Central School, Erie 2 BOCES Centers, Falconer Central School, Forestville Central School, Fredonia Central School, Frewsburg Central School, Jamestown Public Schools, Panama Central School, Pine Valley Central School, Randolph Academy and Central School, Ripley Central School, Sherman Central School, Southwestern Central School, and Westfield Central School. Jamestown Community College was also held through remote learning at all sites.