Buffalo, NY (WBEN) As the forecast calls for the possibility of snowflakes this weekend, highway crews are trying to quickly get leaves that fell on the roads.
Things have gone well in the town of Aurora says Highway Superintendent David Gunner. "I think the leaves for us seem to fall steady, and over this past weekend with the wind, I think most of them are down now. So yeah, it's it's always a challenge, and we just keep going and hopefully get it all up before the snow flies," says Gunner.
Gunner says there are three crews in the town. "We cover about 200 miles of roads. We run up to four leaf crews, minimum of two. Just depends on how quick they're coming out. And then our goal with our town is to do every house at least once a week. And if we're able to do that, usually it goes pretty smooth," says Gunner.
He says the biggest challenge is the snow. "If you get an early storm, it definitely is problematic. But with the forecast we've had for the past month, we started about October 1, and even with the small storm they're calling for this weekend, that makes it kind of easy an easy year when you you know you have weather it's cooperative usually can get it all done before the snow flies," explains Gunner.
In Lancaster, Highway Superintendent John Pilato says it's been a good season. "With the sustained warm temperatures, the leaves were falling at a pretty good rate for us to keep up with it," says Pilato. "But, the past couple last weekend, we had such a huge leaf drop. It's definitely been challenging this week for us. Our you know our leapers we have three leapers that go out every day." He says the biggest challenge that is the leafers filling up quickly. "So a lot of residents will see us driving down the road and we have to stop because it's it's filled and then we have to go dump, and then you know start start the route all over again," notes Pilato.
He understands the importance of getting leaves picked up this week. "With the threat of some snow maybe coming later in the week, could cause some flooding issues, stuff like that. So we we got everybody out right now. We have our grapplers out. We got small piles out right now, picking them up, and we got all our leapers out on the road. And we will continue that this entire week," adds Pilato.
He cautions against going near leaf piles because there could be toys or other objects that could cause a damaging accident.
Crews trying to clear streets before wintry weather possible this weekend
Crews trying to clear streets before wintry weather possible this weekend
