Baltimore: So Much Snow and Few Places to Put It

[Video below.] With so much snow on the ground and more falling in Baltimore, many people are wondering: Where does it all go? In some cases, it is being moved to empty lots and even dumped in the Inner Harbor. But in most cases, it is going nowhere.

Baltimore has been moving some snow to empty parking lots and city parks, according to Adrienne Barnes, a city transportation spokeswoman.

Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake said that Pimlico Race Course has been generous in accepting snow on its property, and that some snow is being piled in schoolyards in Baltimore, such as Lake Clifton’s. Other sites include Druid Hill Park, Leakin Park, Canton Waterfront Park and Harbor Hospital grounds. The city has obtained a permit from the Maryland Department of the Environment to dump snow in the Inner Harbor.

According to MDE guidelines, “relatively clean snow removed from paved areas … may be placed into large tidal water bodies (for example, Baltimore Harbor or the Potomac River near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge) without causing adverse environmental impact.”

Snow from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is being put into one of five “melters,” according to airport spokesman Jonathan Dean. Snow plowed from around the airport’s gates is being scooped up by loaders, then dumped into the melters – large vehicles that look like tractor-trailers – where it is turned into water.

Snow from the runways is “pushed to the side for the most part,” Dean said, with plows and large blowers.

Not all jurisdictions have been able to get rid of the snow. Baltimore County officials said they would like to remove the snow that has been cleared from roads, but it’s not practical.

“We’re not taking a whole lot anywhere; we really don’t have that capability,” said Tim Burgess, chief of highways for Baltimore County. “We’re putting it back where it’s at.”

Burgess laments the “loss of real estate” on roads where snow has simply been pushed to the side, but said that much of the snow is too deep to be reached by the county’s trucks. The only way to remove it is with loaders – heavy machinery equipped with a bucket on the front. The county has been renting loaders from as far away as Connecticut and North Carolina, but it’s still not enough.

“This is going to be, I don’t want to say ‘gloom and doom,’ but it’s going to be serious,” Burgess said.

In Anne Arundel County, sidewalks and driveways blocked by banks of snow are an often unavoidable byproduct of plowing.

“The county does not haul away snow,” said David Abrams, a spokesman for County Executive John R. Leopold. “There is no disposal of the snow. Unfortunately, on days like [today], when we are clearing snow, driveways could be blocked or large piles could be left. We leave it where it is.”

Snow is also piling up on roadsides in Howard County, but the county plans to return to some places to scoop the snow into dump trucks for disposal in county parks, according to public works director James Irvin.

The question of where to put the snow has been an issue on area highways as well. Neil Pedersen, the state highway administrator, said at a news conference Tuesday that state crews are simply piling the snow out of the way. Cleared snow is being pushed into two lanes on four- and six-lane highways. Pedersen said he did not know what will be done with the new snow expected today.

Click here for a weather report for Baltimore.

{Baltimore Sun/Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}