SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Keep your snow boots out, because between snow and ice, sidewalks remain slippery. The city has hired JSK Snow Services to tackle this issue.
The company uses three tractors to clear 44 miles of city sidewalks, but they do not take care of ice. They plow all main corridors from Downtown Syracuse to the city border line.
“We have to be deployed by the city, so they decide when we’re going to plow. We start at 3 inches of snow and we’re strictly removing the snow. We’re strictly plowing,” says Doug Henry, co-owner of JSK snow services.
Last night was just the third time JSK has been deployed since being hired. With so much snow, their goal is to plow four miles of sidewalk per hour. Last night’s route was smooth, but the first two times out the crew encountered numerous issues – none of them the large quantities of snow received.
“We had a lot of obstacles those first couple of plows: street signs, low branches, but the city already sent the tree crew out, already trimmed the branches,” Henry said.
The company keeps a snowblower handy in the event of large snow banks and has an extra man on board to handle any malfunctions. The hire is part of a citywide pilot program that provides safer walking conditions for pedestrians in the winter.
