POUGHKEEPSIE – The City of Poughkeepsie DPW did a valiant job of keeping the roadways clear during the storm on Sunday and kept going through the night. On Monday morning, equipment problems kept many of the roads snow-covered and prevented the workers from salting the roads.
The major thoroughfares in the city are passable, with many of them cleared down to the asphalt, including the east and westbound arterials.
City Administrator Joe Donat told Monday evening that three of the city’s big plow trucks broke down just after 8 a.m., forcing DPW to push the outdated, operational rigs even harder. Without being able to get the snow off all of the road surfaces and with fewer salt spreaders, the city has arranged for Dutchess County to bring heavy equipment into the city to assist. Donat also noted that several additional pieces of equipment have been rented and will be in the city later this week. The timing is urgent, with the possibility of another large snowstorm for the coming weekend.
One of Donat’s concerns is that the snow remaining on road surfaces will be compacted down by vehicular traffic and freeze over due to not being able to salt the roads entirely.
On Monday evening, Poughkeepsie and Fairview firefighters encountered a few of the snow-covered and slippery roads when they responded to an electrical fire at a house on Rosalind Road on the south side of the city.
Commuters who work in the downtown area, including Dutchess County employees, court employees, and others, who use the Financial Parking Deck on Civic Center Plaza, may find additional challenges when they arrive on Tuesday morning. The top level of the parking deck is almost completely covered with at least a foot of snow, and even if a person could park there, they cannot access the stairwell or the elevated walkways that connect adjacent buildings because they are blocked by snow. The ground floor presents a different challenge in that motorists can access the garage in their vehicles, but the pedestrian access point is blocked by nearly two feet of snow. As of Monday evening, people parking in the parking deck have to walk out of the deck using the one vehicle access lane, with nowhere to step out of the way of vehicles pulling in.
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