Local government officials are considering large-scale snow removal projects to deal with the yesterday's white plight on top of remaining snow piles.
Both State College Borough Manager Tom Fountaine and Ferguson Township Manager Mark Kunkle said each municipality is having problems dealing with the snow that falls but does not melt.
The latest round dumped about 12 inches on the State College area yesterday, causing municipalities to declare snow emergencies that last into today.
All residents must immediately remove their vehicles from public roadways until they are plowed to the curb. Residents also must shovel sidewalks in front of their properties within 24 hours of the storm's end. Fountaine said more than 100 citations have been issued in the borough this year
Fountaine said this year's snowfall has already passed the winter average, and almost all of it is still sitting along municipal roadways due to constantly cold temperatures.
The result, he said, is roadways within the borough are narrowing, and snow piles along sidewalks are getting difficult for residents to manage.
Richard Wollett, operations supervisor for the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA), said snow piles along curbs are a big problem for buses. Although one vehicle got stuck and needed to be pulled out yesterday, Wollett said that is not the real problem.
CATA buses now need to stop in the middle of roads because they cannot get to the curb, causing traffic to back up. Also, students have more difficulty exiting the buses due to high snow banks, which causes delays, Wollett said.
"We got too much snow at one time," Wollett said. "It didn't give [municipalities] enough time to clean up from the last time."
To address these and other concerns, Fountaine said the borough is considering hauling snow from side streets and alleys, as it does now for main roads.
Eric Brooks, public works supervisor, said snow is currently hauled away on an as-needed basis.
A larger hauling operation could come at a considerable cost to the borough, but Fountaine said municipal funds are in fairly good shape, and workers would need to respond to the problem regardless of cost.
Snow is also building up in certain areas of Ferguson Township. Kunkle said the United States Postal Service notified the township it could not deliver some mail due blocked mailboxes.
"We are in a situation now where we have no place to put the snow," Kunkle said. "This is a cumulative situation."
Kunkle also said residents should begin piling snow on the private property side of sidewalks and stop dumping snow on roads.
