Evening star., 1934-03-09
coordinate Plan
ION SNOW REMOVAL
urged BY PR0BERS
Committee to Recommend
Traction Company and
District Cooperation.
NIGHT CREWS LABOR
TO SPEED UP TRAFFIC
Icy Streets Bring CrashetPos-
sibility of Additional Fall
Tomorrow Forecast.

Closer coordination In the work
of District agencies and the Capital
Transit Co. in plans for removal of
snow from both the street car tracks
and the traffic lanes for private We
hicles will be recommended by the
study the problem.
Members Of the group are F. A.
Sager, chief engineer of the Public
Utilities Commission; Robert Dali
gleish, chief engineer for the Capital
Transit Co., and M. o. Eldridge.
assistant director of traffic. They
have consulted with John Blake Cor
don, District sanitary engineer and
Morris Hacker, director of city refuse.
The report will bs submitted late
this week or Monday to the Public
Utilities Commission. Details of the
report were not made public today.
The committee was assigned to
study the problem of snow removal
particularly on narrow streets. 1t
was found that when the railway
snow plows pushed the snow onto the
roadway and then was pushed from
there to the gutter by District opera
tives, a problem was created in the
parking of automobiles along the
curb.
Removal Is Success.
Meanwhile. District officials were
convinced an experiment tried yester-
day in handling the soft snow fall
had proved successful.
While Washingtonians went to work
this morning over streets comparative
ly free Of yesterdays three-inch snow
fall, the Weather Bureau saw the pos
sibility Of light snow tomorrow. To-
night. however, should be fair with
a minimum of about % degrees.
From pm. yesterday until am.
today. a small army Of District en-
ployes attacked the wet snow with
dusher trucks, plows, shovels and fire
hose.
The work began downtown while
the snow was still falling. Thirty
three large sprinkler trucks were equip
ped with high-pressure nozzles for
flushing the snow into sewers.
Traffic had churned the snow into
slush and while temperatures re-
mained above freezing it was easily
flushed into the sewers with the
sprinklers and fire hose.
At 6 pm, the regular force was
relieved by 600 street cleaners and
garbage men. Forty-four trucks of
highway and sanitary departments.
all equipped with plows and a few
with flusher nozZleS, worked the
streets into the outlying districts.
where as much as 4 inches of snow
had fallen.
Freezing Halts Work.
A "mopping up" detail with 80
trucks and several hundred shovelers
followed to clear the snow near the
cutters where it had been thrown by
the plows. The work was halted early
this morning when the slush froze too
tight for removal. The mercury got
down to freezing at IL o'clock last
night, and at 4:30 this am. stood at
rs degrees, the minimum for the
night.
Thin sheets of ice remained on some
outlying streets this morning, and
several minor traffic crashes occurred
on hills
The regular force of more than 230
street cleaners waited for thawing
temperatures this morning before be-
ginning their days work. They re-
ported when the sun began to melt
the ice, flushing the streets by OPEN
ing fire plugs and shoveling slush
from infnroSnNtiny1c ond o1nnn "a
curbs
All streets and intersections in the
downtown area were cleared last
night, District ofi1cials said.
Sidewalk Clearance Handicapped.
The District government Is with.
out power to compel the owners of
private property to clear the side
walks In front Of their premises of
snow. Corporation Counsel w. w.
Bride holds.
The present snow-removal law as
applied to private property owners,
Mr.. Bride said, was apparently i'm
possible of enforcement, from q prac-
ticable point Of view.
The present law, he said, makes
it the duty of owners of private prop
erty within the fire limits of the
District to clear sidewalks in front
Of their properties of snow within
eight hours Of daylight after the
snowfall ceases.
The District. he explained, however,
must first ascertain that the property
owners have failed to carry out this
duty, then must have the work done
by the Government, then ascertain
the cost in each case and finally file
suit for collection Of the cost. In the
first place, Bride found, the District
has not sufficient funds available for
such work. He added:
IF the District were in . position
to remove the snow and did 50, it
would then become necessary to file
thousands Of civil suits against the
persons responsible for the sums ex-
pended by the District. OF course,
judgments obtained could not be col
lected from a large portion Of the
judgment debtors, and it is quite prob
able the moneys collected on judg-
ments would not equal the expenses
incurred in instituting all the pro-
ceedings."