Saint John is one of the cities hardest hit by storms this winter and now many residents say that they are unhappy with how long they’re waiting for their streets to get plowed.
“It’s really treacherous with a two-wheel drive,” says resident John Russell Raynes about his street which is a priority four road; they’re the last to be plowed.
Priority one streets are the main city thoroughfares followed by schools and bus routes then connector streets.
Councillor Ray Strowbridge says he’s been flooded with calls from residents all over the city who live on priority four streets who often don’t see a plow.
“I’ve received e-mails as early as this morning that people still haven’t seen as snow plow from the last storm that was over days ago,” says Strowbridge.
He adds that priority four streets should at least be plowed once after a storm to allow residents to get through.
“I’m seeing all of our equipment hitting the ones and twos right down to the asphalt, bringing sparks up off the plow blades. I’m saying let’s not go that far with the higher priorities. Let’s take our equipment and send it down to the fours, get the fours opened up more and then we can go back and finish up the ones, twos and even the threes.”
He plans to bring this up at the next council meeting which will happen next Monday.
He says that with the support of one other councillor, he’s hoping the city of Saint John will looks at priority four streets and make them more of a priority.
