An army and single general battle city snowfall

LYNN – The man in charge of clearing snow from 153 miles of Lynn roads follows one simple rule: Timing is everything.On Wednesday, Acting Interim Public Works Commissioner J.T. Gaucher sent 200 contracted plow drivers and 45 city vehicles ranging from pickups to rented pay loaders out onto city streets to clear snow.But before his latest assault on winter began, Gaucher scoured weather forecasts.Armed with probable starting times for Wednesday’s storm, he huddled with other city officials and settled on midnight as the start time for a citywide parking ban.With the ban announced, a public school closing declaration soon followed and Gaucher got ready to battle the storm: He tugged on a bright yellow jacket with “JT DPW Director” inscribed on its front and a gray Pendleton hat.”It laughs at the rain – or that’s how it’s advertised,” he said.Gaucher ran public works operations in the town of Hopkinton before Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy brought him to Lynn last August. When he talks about snow-clogged streets, he talks about “gang plowing,” “wing plows,” “V plows” and “brine.”He watches television weather forecasts but he ignores the media “hype” heralding a snow storm’s arrival.”You can’t let it take you over,” he said.His job involves assembling many parts into a working machine capable of clearing the city’s streets for drivers, school buses and public safety vehicles. Mechanics are on duty in the big garage on Commercial Street extension, ready to repair trucks and loaders that break down while pushing tons of snow off roadways.Contractors are distributed across 28 city plow routes, but 17 chasers armed with books detailing streets in the route and drivers assigned to clear snow from them, must be assigned to check on the contractors.Before the first plow blade hits the asphalt, trucks fan out across the city loaded with road salt and, if needed, liquid calcium that pre-treats road surfaces so that snow cannot build up on them and freeze.This “snow pack,” as Gaucher refers to it, is the archenemy of plow operators: Once a hard layer of freezing snow builds up on a street, all but the heaviest plow blade simply skims over the pack, leaving the frozen layer to pose a driving hazard.Pre-treating and parking bans are the most effective weapons in the plowing operation director’s arsenal, said Gaucher, but timing is the key to using them effectively.”Having cars off the road just makes the operation more effective,” he said.Gaucher said Wednesday’s storm – Lynn’s fifth this snow season – pushed city snow and ice spending over the $1 million mark.Along with large sums of money spent on snow clearing comes complaints and gripes about city plowing operations. Public works employees stationed in front of telephones in the Commercial Street office field calls about shoddy plowing and drivers shoving snow across freshly-cleared driveway entrances.”The chaser has to check every street to make sure it is plowed before we release the contractor,” he said.Plow operators have their own complaints, including drivers who don’t move cars and people who blow and shovel snow into streets. As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, 250 parking ban scofflaws could find their cars in the tow lot on Federal Street – cash only, please.Gaucher wants to beef up his snow fighting army, and a 10-wheel truck capable of shuttling a mound of road salt from Commercial Street to the side streets off Lynnfield Street is due to arrive in April.”When I got here, I started looking at the equipment: We have an aging fleet,” he said.By the way, J.T. stands for John Tyler.