What’s Up With That Giant Snow Pile Blocking Bay Parkway?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=336m4dZnglE

In the aftermath of Winter Storm Jonas, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) did a kickass job at getting our streets clear and functioning in a timely manner.

But where does the snow go when it is cleared? Much of it, apparently, to a mountain of ice on Bay Parkway between the graves of Washington Cemetery to be slowly melted and drained into our sewer system.

DSNY spokeswoman Belinda Mager explained the “four-pronged process” to us.“Plowing, piling, hauling, and melting,” she said. “First, streets are plowed to open them to emergency vehicles. If we have an abundance of snow, we can then move the plowed snow into piles, and then haul it to a melting location.”

The locations of these snow piles are no accident. The agency works closely with the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to identify “speed sewers,” or drainage areas that can accommodate large quantities of water — such as the stretch of Bay Parkway between McDonald and 59th Street.“We then put the snow into the melter. The snow melters must be used in conjunction with a speed sewer that can handle the amount of water that’s produced,” said MagerThe sanitation agency was using half of its 36 snow melting trucks in the immediate aftermath of Jonas.

With the exception of buses, the Bay Parkway block containing the snow pile has been closed to vehicles all week, clogging up traffic in the area.It is quite striking to watch the heavy machinery chipping away at the rapidly shrinking snow pile, so stop by — perhaps with your truck-obsessed little boys and girls — before it is all melted, for a rare glimpse into what goes into keeping our city safe and clean.More information about the DSNY’s snow removal process can be found here.