Portland residents may have to wait for the snow to melt if they want to use side streets again, according to KATU.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) said they don't plow or treat side streets, but they said there are reasons for that.
“We don't plow the side streets for a couple of reasons. One is a capacity reason; we don't have the number of plows that we would need to do that. And then many of those side streets are, are too narrow for our plows, those are big machines. Especially when cars a lined up on both sides of the street parking,” John Brady said, who is the commications director at PBOT.
Brady added that the Bureau doesn't have the manpower to tackle side streets. Portland has over 3,000 miles of side streets and 1,800 miles of main roads, he noted.
"Another issue, though, is growing berms. As plows go by on main roads, entrances to small roads get blocked with large snow berms," reporters learned. Brady said PBOT crews will work on getting the snow berms out of the way of side streets, according to KATU.
Residents may have to rely on each other when it comes to vehicles getting stuck in the roads.
“A poor guy and his two kids got stuck here so a couple of neighbors and myself started shoveling,” Pete Profut told reporters. “The world could use that right now right one person helping another. It’s the least we could do."
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