Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - While it was a mild day in the City of Buffalo on Thursday with temperatures hovering in the low-to-mid-60 degrees, plans are already taking shape for the change of weather and for the snow to return to Western New York.
City officials gathered Thursday morning at City Hall to further discuss additions to the city’s snow plow fleet, as well as provide an update on the new GPS system for plows this winter. Among the notable officials in attendance were Mayor Byron Brown and the new Commissioner for the Department of Public Works, Nathan Marton.
Mayor Brown announced Thursday the city's purchase of three Freightliner Severe-Duty plow trucks, which arrived earlier this week, to add to the city's winter snow fighting fleet. This was part of a $625,000 investment made by the city to upgrade their snow plow fleet.
"Since I took office, we have invested heavily in our snow fighting equipment, and this year was no exception," said Mayor Brown. "These plows will enable our operators to see the roads more clearly. During storms, our crews often work in extreme weather conditions with blowing and drifting. The new plows have visibility features that will keep them moving, and keep the visibility high for our drivers, which is critically important to driver safety and to moving snow."
"We're really excited to have the arrival this week of the three new plows for the department. That brings our total number of large piece of equipment plows like this to 44 total, and that's a great number. Seven of those, actually, have been within the last three years, so as the mayor mentioned, the investment that he's made and the administration's made into the plows to help our residents is apparent," added Commissioner Marton. "These new vehicles, they're just going to be a great asset to have on board and be used in the city."
Marton says when the resources and assets of the other departments are added into the picture, the City of Buffalo has over 100 pieces of equipment. While not all of it is the large piece equipment, the smaller equipment will be utilized to help clear some of the bike tracks that are along Niagara Street, as well as the new parking that's on Allen Street.
"All together, the department itself, working with engineering, parks - that group taking care of their facilities - certainly Mayor Brown's impact team and our colleagues at the water and sewer authorities, we're standing ready for the winter," Marton said.
The city also introduced on Thursday the newly implemented GPS snow fighting tracking system that will be on every Department of Public Works snow vehicle going forward. Not only will the GPS system be utilized by the department itself, but it will also help residents explore where plows are working, and how close crews are to reaching their neighborhood.
"It's designed to really be a tool for us to use as a department, we'll be able to look at assets and have flexibility to move them around the city, as needed, in parts of the city that have a heavier snowfall, for instance, or if there's equipment issues, so we can really look at that data and information and adjust as we can. And really importantly, it's going to give all of our community a look into the status of the streets," said Marton.
Related
Mayor Brown says as part of this year's snow removal plan, the Department of Public Works has set a goal to have every city street - both main and residential streets - plowed with, at least, one pass within 24 hours after the end of a snow event.
As for how the new GPS system works, Commissioner Marton says it is a high-level interactive map that allows for a live look of the streets of the City of Buffalo, with every street represented in a color-coded way.
"The color coding is an important aspect of the visibility of what's happening on your street, in your neighborhood or your part of the city," Marton explained. "A green street indicates that your street has been covered by a snow vehicle, one of our snow plows, in the last 0-6 hours, from a timing perspective. When that time passes, 6-12 hours, the color will turn to blue. A yellow means that the snow fleet has come through your street between 12-24 hours, and if it's been longer than 24 hours, the street will show red.
"You can zoom in [with] the system, as well, so interactive with the mouse, but you can also do a specific address, as well. So you can type an address up in the upper left hand corner of the street of the screen. ... I think great visibility from our standpoint, again, a tool that we can use, but it's a tool that all the residents and community can have to see the status."
The tracking software can be found at BuffaloNY.gov/snowfleet.
In addition, Mayor Brown remind residents that the city's seasonal winter parking rules on bus route regulations are scheduled to take effect on Tuesday, Nov. 15. The mayor pleads with people to follow the rules to let plows can get by, or else they will face a penalty from the city.
"It's important to note, and this is by the request of residents all across the City of Buffalo, cars that are illegally parked during a snow event will be ticketed, and towed," he said.
The city's winter parking regulations will be in effect starting Nov. 15 all the way through April 1.
"There's no parking on city bus routes from 1:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. All posted parking restrictions are in effect, including the 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. alternate parking," detailed the city's Parking Commissioner, Ray Wagner. "An updated list of the bus routes have been posted to our homepage - Parking Enforcement Division - if you go to BuffaloNY.gov, you'll be able to find it."
To help keep people more updated on parking regulations in the City of Buffalo, especially during the winter months, Wagner and the Parking Department created a Twitter account for residents to follow.
"This is going to push out important information regarding the winter weather transition," Wagner explained. "We will also be promoting special events with QR codes that will open up Google Maps to direct the rider to nearby a parking lot. Our our name is City of Buffalo Parking, and our Twitter handle is @Buffalo_Parking."
As far as other aspects of Buffalo's readiness for the winter season ahead, Commissioner Marton says they are in good supply of the essentials.
"We're starting the winter fully stocked up with salt. We've got 7,500 tons of salt, two main storage areas, both at the Broadway Garage and over on Perry Street at the Housing Authority property," he said. "And again, all of the team across the entire department has been working together. We've had conversations with our colleagues at the state, both the D.O.T. and the Thruway Authority to make sure we've got coordination with them. So I think from a department standpoint, certainly we're in a good position as we approach winter."
More from Thursday's press briefing is available in the player below: