Where Does the Snow Go?

 When one of those sunny wintry days pops out of nowhere and you forget your sunglasses, the gleaming 8-foot-high piles of snow on the corners of major intersections become serious traffic hazards.

The Town of Cortland and City of Peekskill works to reduce those piles and put them where they can’t hurt anyone.

Cortlandt hauls its huge piles of extra snow to the parking area for the ball field off of 11^th St. in Verplanck. Peekskill hauls its to a piece of city-owned property on Lower South St.

“We usually try to just knock the piles down first,” said Cortlandt’s Director of Environmental Services Jeff Coleman.

If the piles can’t be knocked down, or if knocking them down means snow and ice spilled into the middle of an intersection on Route 6, the Town hauls it to the ball field. Cortlandt’s DEC and Peekskill’s Department of Public Works have been hauling the snow since December.

“After a storm the hauling process takes a long time but it is secondary to getting roads clear and safe for residents,” said Coleman.

“We’ve been hauling our snow to Lower South St. since Christmas,” said Peekskill’s DPW Deputy Director Howard Wessells. “We pile it up there and come spring it will melt and it will all be gone.”