State Begins To Return To Normal
by Christine Stuart | Feb 12, 2013 8:40pm
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Posted to: Public Safety, Weather, Hartford
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said it’s taking the state a little longer than desired to get back to normal, but he expects Wednesday morning commuters to find a majority of the state’s highways and roads cleared.
Tuesday night’s commute was still treacherous for some drivers. Accidents in both directions on Interstate 84 and additional road clean-up crews west of the city turned a commute that usually takes minutes into hours for some motorists.
Malloy said he got caught in the traffic jam as well because the highway traffic was pushed onto secondary Hartford streets, making it difficult to get around. There is still only one lane open in each direction on some of the city’s main arteries, but Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra insists progress has been made.
“We have approximately 550 streets and 500 curbside miles in Hartford and, as of right now, they are all passable, meaning emergency vehicles and cars can get in and out,” Segarra said Tuesday night in a statement.
The parking ban in Hartford will remain in effect until noon Wednesday and schools will remain closed as the city gets to work clearing sidewalks.
Malloy, again declined to comment on Hartford’s storm clean-up performance.
“I’m trying to do my best not to get dragged into a city-by-city-by-city review, quite frankly,” Malloy said. “We have assets at play in Hartford. We’ll have more assets at play in Hartford tomorrow. It is the capital city, it is the insurance center of the world.”
He said he’s spoken with mayors and first selectmen throughout the state and in many locations things already are back to normal. He said the cities are having difficulty recovering because of the density of population and distribution of automobiles.
Aside from traffic, 120 agricultural buildings have collapsed. The bulk of those are chicken coops, followed by greenhouses, and then barns, Malloy said.
With another two to four inches of snow expected from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, Malloy isn’t concerned.
“We’re not going to sweat two inches. We were sweating 20 last night,” Malloy said referring to early forecasts that had some weather models predicting another 20 inches for the state. “We can handle two inches,” he added.
Malloy said the progress the state has made has been remarkable and he doesn’t believe two inches will have that much of an impact.
Tags: connecticut, snow, clean-up, storm, Malloy, hartford, road clearing, roads, pedro segarra, dh
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