Cities deal with a plowing nightmare

At 10th and Ferry streets in Easton, Greg Joseph chipped and scraped at stubborn patches of ice on a sidewalk with a long-handled shovel. He dislodged a chunk of gray-brown ice along the mouth of his driveway and pitched it into a puddle of slush along the gutter.

Nearby, a Cadillac sat buried behind a heap of plowed snow along 10th Street, and beneath a thick blanket of snow that fell Monday. Joseph, in an unzipped jacket, Jerry Garcia T-shirt, rubber boots and mustard-color knit hat, lamented this winter's frequent frozen precipitation, but figured he'd carry on.

"What are you going to do?" Joseph said. "You do the best you can."

That was the overriding theme Tuesday in the Lehigh Valley's three cities.

Ol' Man Winter has tossed about 40 inches of snow at the Valley so far this season, about 9 inches more than the average winter and there is a lot more winter to come. In fact, winter's next pass was expected Tuesday night into Wednesday morning with at least several more inches of snow, then freezing rain to join the legion of snow mucking up side roads and back alleys.

Though compacted snow frozen to roads makes the plowing difficult and travel spotty, the main byways in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton were mostly clear Tuesday. That isn't to say the roads couldn't be better. A good bit of Chew Street, for example, in the area of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, was still snow-covered late Tuesday afternoon.

The avenues in West Bethlehem are a snow-covered mess; parts of downtown Allentown remained ice-bound; and a lack of room to throw the snow made Lehigh Street in Easton into a series of snow bunkers with sawhorses guarding hard-fought parking spots.

Joseph said Easton's plows are doing what they can.

"They do good," Joseph said. "It's a tough, thankless job."

In Bethlehem, Public Works Director Michael Alkhal said this week's short turnaround between storms stresses the city's resources.

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Cities deal with a plowing nightmare