Everything must go: Middletown DPW clears streets, pulls up speed bumps ahead of winter storm
In addition to the speed bumps, DPW crews did one last round to collect leaves and trash from the streets before reoutfitting their leaf transport trucks into plow trucks.
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Middletown's Department of Public Works crews spent much of Monday removing all the city's speed bumps for the entire winter, not just for Tuesday's storm.
They do this each winter to prevent damage to plow trucks and regular cars.
"We don't want to take any chance of people having accidents," said Middletown DPW Commissioner Jacob Tawil Monday morning.
Tawil said his team prepares for each storm as if it will be a blizzard and every season as if it will be exceptionally snowy.
In addition to the speed bumps, they did one last round to collect leaves and trash from the streets before reoutfitting their leaf transport trucks into plow trucks.
"The whole idea is just to be ready, whatever it is," Tawil said. "Five inches or 10 inches, it's the same thing for us, or even one or two inches."
Grand Avenue resident Miguel Valdez said the city seemed to be doing its job as usual in his neighborhood, and he will do his in order to not miss work Tuesday morning.
He is fully equipped and ready to dig out his and his neighbors' cars.
"Always ready," he said. "I always have my stuff and I'm ready for the snow."
One wildcard in many communities in New York State, including Middletown, is the road salt supply.
Shortages in previous winters, especially last winter, at a major salt producer forced local governments to ration their salt and/or share salt with other municipalities.
Tawil says his department reorders salt after every storm and there is no immediate concern about supply in Middletown.
