Worcester, alone in school delay, faced 'ice all over our streets'
WORCESTER — The threat of schoolchildren slipping, sliding and potentially falling while walking on icy sidewalks and roadways was the catalyst for the delay in the opening of public schools in the city Tuesday.
Worcester was alone in the region when it came to delaying school. All other districts rang the morning bell at the usual time.
“We had ice all over our streets," said Worcester Superintendent Maureen Binienda. "We have a lot of roads, so we had pure ice. So we had to do the two-hour delay so that the DPW (Department of Public Works) could get the ice off the roads.
“We have a lot of roads in Worcester and we transport 13,000 kids and the others walk to school, so we had to make sure it was safe.”
Worcester and other communities in Central Massachusetts were hit with a storm Sunday night into Monday. Worcester measured 5.5 inches of snow.
With the Monday holiday, with no school and fewer commuters on the roadways, highway workers had more room to work.
Jay Fink, Worcester's public works commissioner, said pedestrian travel in some areas was still treacherous early Tuesday.
“There were an awful lot of sidewalks that were probably slushy yesterday (Monday) to walk on but over the course of the overnight really froze up,” Fink said. “I know a lot of pedestrians who were having a hard time navigating those sidewalks this (Tuesday) morning.”
Children trying to get to the school bus stop or trying to get to school early Tuesday morning before the sun came up would have had a hard time navigating sidewalks, in part because they would not be able to see what was in front of them, Fink said.
“I can clear the sidewalk but I have snow on either side of my clear path, I get a little bit of melting or the rain gets trapped there, the temperature drops, and now I’ve created a sheet of ice,” Fink said. “Some sidewalks were clear and there was a sheet of ice, while other sidewalks hadn’t been clear and it’s this uneven mess that you’re trying to navigate.”
He said the big question facing the DPW on Monday was how much of Monday’s snow, slush, water and rain was going to drain away from the roadways and dry up overnight.
“Things were going according to plan but we did experience some flurries early evening (Monday),” Fink said. “And what that meant was that while the roads were still wet, the flakes were, basically, sticking on contact with the wet road surfaces but the temperatures were already freezing and dropping. So that only sets things up for the formation of black ice.”
Fink said the DPW started treating roadways early Monday evening, bringing in additional trucks about midnight, and changing shift and adding some fresh bodies to go out and continue Tuesday morning.
“The roads were certainly slippery in the overnight,” Fink said. “As the temperature continued to drop, everything really froze up.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Fink said, the DPW was still handling complaints of icy roads and are still treating some of the roadways. He said sanding crews are going out on the city streets into Tuesday night and spot treating as needed.
With constant sanding of the road, Fink said Worcester did not have many fender-benders or reports of widespread black ice on the roads.
Reporter Jeff A. Chamer contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Tuesday: Worcester public schools on 2-hour delay
