I'd like to see a picture of that... anyone in Portland? :)
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"Maine City Needs Places for Snow"
(Source: Associated Press)
PORTLAND, Maine - It's a routine matter in New England: When snow falls,
plows push it to the curb. Then, heavy equipment swoops in at night and
the snow is gone. This year, though, there's a wrinkle: Portland is
simply
running out of places to put the massive amounts of white stuff.
The nor'easter that brought blizzard conditions to Maine dropped about
16
inches of snow in Portland. That translates to about 35 or 40 tons of
snow
that must be removed from 323 miles of city streets.
``Either we need a good old snow melt, or no more snow, or preferably
both,'' said Peter DeWitt, spokesman for the Portland Public Works
Department.
Much of the city's snow is trucked to a 5-acre field near the airport.
Since there was no thaw in January or February, the snow at the dump
never
melted. Huge 50-foot high mounds mean there's no more space.
``If we continue with serious snow into March, we're going to need to
come
up with some creative solutions,'' DeWitt lamented Tuesday, as the snow
continued to fall. In the past, municipalities didn't worry about piles
of
snow. Many, like Portland, simply dumped it in the ocean.
Environmental regulators clamped down on the practice 10 years ago over
concerns tons of salt, oil and other pollutants were being dumped
directly
in the water. That means municipalities must dump their snow on land.
And
it poses the biggest problem for cities like Portland, where many of the
narrow streets date back to the cart-and-buggy days.
Other Maine cities are not in such dire straits. Bangor dumps its snow
in
a gravel pit. Lewiston uses a pair of quarries and the city's gravel
pit.
Unlike Portland, both communities have plenty of room for more snow. All
it would take is a couple of days in which the temperature reached the
50s
to reduce Portland's snow pile, but that hasn't happened so far, said
Bill
Bray, the current public works director.
``For some reason or another, Old Man Winter really wants to hang on
tight
this year,'' Bray said.
[Footnote: Portland's local NWS forecast calls for more snow Fri-Sat.]
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