CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- First the main streets in the city had to be cleared of snow. Then Tuesday night, the Department of Streets and Sanitation snow plows began tackling the side streets.
The Department of Streets and Sanitation deployed over 400 snow vehicles - plows and salt spreaders - Tuesday to battle the storm, which dumped more than 18 inches of snow in some neighborhoods. Midway Airport received the highest total of official snowfall Tuesday: more than 17.5 inches.
But there is still a long way to go, especially in intersections where snow starts to accumulate into a slushy mess making turning a little more dicey.
“Crews have been working around the clock, and I want to again thank them for their hard work,” Department of Streets and Sanitation Commissioner John Tully said.
Some side streets in the West Lawn neighborhood have been done, others that are not have had snow knocked down by traffic, but it is still easy to get stuck. And some residents say they feel forgotten.
In South Shore, Pamela Moore told CBS 2, “We’re stuck, so we would appreciate it if someone comes out and plow our street, too.”
Moore lives off 75th Street and Baldwin Avenue. Her street is often mistaken for an alley, but it is not one.
“The main roads are number one – we know,” she said. “But the side streets are too, because we can’t get to the main roads if we don’t get the side streets as well.”
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Another South Shore resident, Alraynita Coleman, spotted the first plow going down her street since the snow stopped.
“And what is it after 7 p.m.? Just came tonight,” Coleman told CBS 2.
Coleman knows it was a big storm, but she considers it no excuse.
“We should be prepared to take care of this already, and being that we’re in COVID, it’s like things should be up and prepared and ready,” she said. “So it should not have been a lackluster effort."
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Department of Streets and Sanitation Commissioner John Tully asks residents for patience. He has another ask of business owners.
"We are asking business owners to designate parking spaces for snow instead of pushing it into the street for residents," he said. “While we’re cleaning the streets, and snow gets pushed back out there, it just makes this process longer, so we’re asking for a little cooperation."
Cmsr. Tully said this is not the snow that is just going to melt all of a sudden so he asks people to do their part.
The CTA is also asking for a little patience as it tries to dig out 11,000 bus stops and shelters.
Another problem for residents is high snow in alleys where people access their garages. A little less good news there from Cmsr. Tully.
"We do not plow alleys, which makes it difficult I know that, but what we will do is we will start tracking those alleys with our refuse trucks and we will start refuse collection on intent to work Saturday with pickup Saturday to try to catch up on this," he said.