Town tackles thousands of miles of road with plowing

Last week, Suffolk County saw the most significant snowstorm in four years; the snow totals averaged around a foot on Jan. 25. The storm brought the heaviest snowfall since late January 2022.

According to the National Weather Service, 10 inches were reported in Patchogue, 7 inches in Bellport, and 12 to 16 inches in the Mastic-Shirley area of snow accumulation.

The Town of Brookhaven issued a state of emergency prohibiting vehicle travel on midnight on the Sunday of the storm, except for essential emergency vehicles. Also, parking was not permitted on town roadways.

According to the highway superintendent Dan Losquadro, he dispatched a total of about 250 town-owned pieces of equipment as well as 170 hired contractors to plow the town’s approximately 3,700 road miles.

“We had about 400 pieces of equipment managing the cleanup of the storm,” he said. “It sounds like a lot, but when you break it down that’s a lot of miles per each truck. It’s a lot of work and a lot to get through with a higher-volume snowstorm like this.”

Despite the efforts, several residents were complaining about snow-plowing conditions on their roads via social media.

However, according to Losquadro, every road had been plowed in a timely fashion, while some of the more minor roads might have needed time to get back to, to be widened.

“The road needing to be widened is a very big difference than saying it hadn’t been plowed at all,” he said, noting he was proud of the job they did.

Additionally, he said, equipment breakdowns do and did happen, causing minor delays, as well as cars being parked on streets when they shouldn’t be, not allowing a proper plow job.

“I have to say, considering the fact it didn’t stop snowing until Monday morning and we were only dealing with requests to improve conditions on roads, I thought we had a very good response time on our part,” he added, also noting that there will always be people on cul-de-sacs and dead ends looking for faster service, but main roads take priority. “Someone has to be first and someone has to be last.”

The immediate goal in a snowstorm, he said, is making sure every road is accessible for police, fire and EMS first.

“We are prepared,” he said for the next storm.

The town, he added, has already accepted more salt deliveries to restock their barns to be prepared for potential storms this winter. “Every storm comes with its unique challenges and no storm is exactly the same.”

Additionally, the town is in need for new contractors to help plow the roads at raised pay rates that are all digital, now allowing payment within two weeks. A basic Chevy pickup, he said, is paid $120 an hour. Those interested should visit 1140 Old Town Road in Coram to have their equipment inspected and get an assignment.