NASHUA – A Public Works staff of about 100 people, 10 pieces of snow-fighting equipment, and dozens of shovels, front loaders and other removal tools can clear many city sidewalks in 72 hours – just not all 214 miles of them.
“It’s going to take time to get all those done, particularly with the back-to-back storms like we’ve had,” said Roy Sorenson, superintendent of streets for the city. “And a lot of these areas are pretty much doubled up now because we didn’t get to them all the first time.”
The city currently sits under about 14-15 inches of snow, Sorenson said. But within 72 hours of any snowfall, the city has eight major sidewalk routes to empty out first.
In 2009, Nashua established a Sidewalk Snow Plowing Plan, available on the city website, that splits routes between Division of Public Works and school department staff and doubled the number of sidewalks the city could clear in 72 hours, Sorenson said.
Most of the walkways are along school walking routes or on heavily traveled roads.
The school department, for instance, clears out the sidewalks around the two public high schools every snowfall, while the Parks and Recreation Department responds to a section of north Nashua, around Charlotte Avenue, Amherst Street and Mount Pleasant elementary schools, plus Pennichuck Middle School.
The city’s streets and parking department staff cover the rest of the public school walking routes, plus highly traveled areas. And the transit department maintains downtown sidewalks and parking while the storm is still taking place, Sorenson said.
“Once the storm is happening, all of our personnel is dedicated to the actual plowing,” Sorenson said.![]()
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