Side Streets At Jersey Shore 'A Little Rough' To Navigate As County Continues To Cleanup From Weekend's Nor'easter
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS) -- The cleanup is still not over from this weekend's nor'easter. From Philadelphia to the Jersey Shore, crews are continuing to work across the region to clear secondary roads and side streets. Many are still covered in a messy mixture of ice and snow.
Some neighborhood streets in South Jersey are completely clear. Others are covered with snow. The Public Works Department is working to get all the side streets down to blacktop.
Forty-eight hours after a nor'easter walloped the Delaware Valley, the interstates and major thoroughfares in South Jersey are mostly clear. The side streets, though, are hit or miss.
"Moss Mill Road, Deer Street, stuff like that around me was a little rough," Absecon resident Gary Tracy said.
Drone video shows streets in the Fries Mill neighborhood of Clayton covered with snow.
On other streets, snow is piled up on the side, forcing two-lane roads to become one-lane roads, a tricky situation for drivers to navigate.
Complicating traffic, some pedestrians are forced to walk in the street because sidewalks are full of snow.
"We're trying to shift the crews where they're needed, bringing at different locations and converging on areas that need more tender loving and care," said Jay Steinmetz, with the Atlantic County Department of Public Work.
Steinmetz says crews have been working tirelessly to clear the roads, but there are challenges, including fewer plow drivers behind the wheel, partly due to COVID-19.
"We're not immune from all the issues that are going on right now," Steinmetz said. "My forces are about 25% down, and you'd think we have the equipment, but we have parts issues with getting the equipment prepared."
The Jersey Shore was among the hardest-hit areas.
The mayor of Atlantic City says it will take time for crews to reach every area.
"We gotta practice patience. Eventually, we will get to you," Mayor Marty Small Sr. said. "Everybody wants their street plowed, and the intensity of the storm, you can look out the window and say no one been down our street, but the amount of inches that were falling per hour, that wasn't necessarily true."
In Atlantic City, a code blue is in effect until 10 a.m. Tuesday because of the freezing temperatures.
A warming shelter is open and the city is encouraging residents to check on elderly neighbors to make sure they have a safe place to stay.
