Yesterday I noticed it up on Loudon Rd. by Applebees Restaurant. Today as I was driving over by Franklin Pierce Law Center it was even worse.
I'm talking about the narrow roads people are forced to navigate in Concord.
I'm trying to figure out why some roads aren't being plowed to a reasonably safe width, and why cars are allowed to park on both sides of many streets. In some places there's barely enough room for two cars to pass each other, and other streets where there isn't even that much room.
Up on Loudon Rd. if you're in the right-hand lane heading east you are forced into the left lane in places because literally half of the right lane is taken up by the snow bank.
Someone needs to explain to me why the plow drivers don't plow the snow the full width of the road [everywhere]. I'd also like to know why this situation is allowed to persist for so long. I would hope that as the Concord Police and/or the supervisors from the Highway Department drive around Concord they would see this (it's hard to miss) and report it. It shouldn't ever get to the point where it is now.
I hate to say much concerning the plow drivers this year. They've had it rough. But now it's become a safety matter, especially when combined with the fact that the sidewalks are impassible and pedestrians are forced into the streets.
Narrow streets, cars parked on both sides, and pedestrians forced to walk in the road is a recipe for accidents and possibly even fatalities. I can understand that on some streets where houses are close to the side of the road it might be impossible to push the snow back any further, but on the streets I've mentioned that's not the case. There's no excuse for letting the snow banks encroach into the road to the point that cars have to cross into the opposite lane. That's unacceptable and threatens the safety of drivers.
I didn't see a single car ticketed that was parked on the sides of any of the streets over by the Law Center, or anywhere else for that matter. Isn't that the job of our Police department? To maintain safety on our streets and in our community? From the dangerous drives around Concord I've had lately I'd have to say they've dropped the ball, as have the supervisors in the Highway Dept.
*UPDATE [2/23/09] - Almost a year later and I see the same thing happening (in the same places). On top of that, I reported unshoveled and icy steps leading to the new parking garage to a young Concord Police officer I saw at D'Angelos afterwards only to be told to "report it myself"!
Not in a mean-spirited way, but all the same I was under the impression that the police were there 'To Protect and Serve' and this was a 'public safety issue' was it not?
I immediately thought about what the City Atty's office would think of this. I've personally slipped more than once on those steps and the ones by the dumpster and I'm relatively fit. What about older folks?
At the end of the day shouldn't someone from the city make sure ALL city property is safe and kept that way?
Update 2: - I want to add that overall the great majority of Concord Police officers have been helpful and professional, and it's not fair to them to be tainted by the actions of [the inevitable few] 'bad apples'!
