By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — The city’s snowpack has nowhere to go but up after most of it was melted in the rain and above freezing temperatures earlier this week, and with the increase of snow comes the increase of necessity to keep parked vehicles off the streets between midnight and 6 a.m, as stipulated by a city ordinance.
Keeping cars off winter streets is crucial not only for the Public Works employees who strive to keep the roads clear as safely and efficiently as possible, but also for the safety of one’s personal vehicle as explained by Director of the Caribou Public Works Department David Ouellette,
“We strive to keep the roads as clean as possible, and when there’s a snow-laden car parked in the street after the plow has gone by, all the snow ends up in the street when the car leaves,” he explained, “and that snow could stay there until the next storm unless we make a special trip out there.”
City plow drivers also have to maneuver the lumbering machines around parked vehicles, which increases the odds of having the massive plow head damage a vehicle. And when that winter wind is whipping 6 inches of snow around at 3 a.m., a car buried in snow is almost invisible to a plow driver until they’re almost on top of the vehicle.
On occasion, vehicles will be parked tightly on both sides of street that the plows can’t even get through — in times like that all the plows can do is back up and hope they can clear the road on their next pass through, which can take four hours.
Throughout the winter and for the duration of the ordinance, officers of the Caribou Police Department will be doing their part to get the parked cars moving.
According to Caribou Police Chief Michael Gahagan, any violators of the ordinance will have their vehicles towed at the owner’s expense and will receive a parking ticket.
“It is very frustrating for the Public Works Department to remove snow during this time period when they have to plow around vehicles,” he said.
Any questions regarding parking restrictions can be posed to the Caribou Police Department, which can be reached at 493-3301.
