Date: Fri 24-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

roads-weather

Full Text:

What Are The Worst Roads In Bad Weather? w/ cuts

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

When the snow begins to fall on Newtown roads, drivers quickly find that few

of those roads are immune from slippery conditions, but there are a handful of

them in the area that are downright treacherous.

As Public Works Department Director Fred Hurley points out, any road with an

incline on it can create hazardous conditions. Anyone who has ever driven in

the snow and ice knows the helpless feeling of losing control of a car as it

slips and slides on its downhill course.

"Any place where you have hill action can be rough on drivers," Mr Hurley

said.

As far as Newtown goes, almost all of its 600 miles of roads have some form of

"hill action," and with the wrath of last winter still fresh in their minds,

many people around town can quickly list the ones they dislike driving most.

"Nothing is worse than Route 25 when you see those cars and trucks coming

toward you sideways and out of control," explained Jean Salvatore, who refuses

to travel the roller coaster-like road in the snow.

Motorists say Route 25 (Mount Pleasant Road) is nasty in several spots, but

especially in two locations. For those traveling south, the hill just before

the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps garage can cause nightmares, while

northbound drivers need to tap their brakes when descending the steep incline

just before the intersection of Mount Pleasant Road and Hawleyville Road.

Other notorious Newtown roads, according to local drivers, include Key Rock

Road, Hundred Acres Road, Parmalee Hill Road, Walnut Tree Hill Road, Mile Hill

Road South and Castle Hill Road. Of course, in most cases, people say the

worst roads to drive in the winter are the ones they must negotiate to and

from work each day.

If you ask Newtown's school bus drivers, they will tell you about the

headaches they often get trying to traverse Scudder, Jeremiah and Osborne Hill

Roads, along with Route 302, where the stop and go flow, heavy traffic and big

trucks can make it grueling on a driver.

"Anyone who drives that is really earning his pay," said longtime local bus

driver Charlie Rudolph.

According to Newtown Police Lt David Lydem, in the first 15-30 minutes of a

snow fall, his department most often heads to calls on Whisconier Hill, Toddy

Hill and Tollgate Hill Roads, not to mention Mount Pleasant. Lt Lydem recalls

several occasions when he has had to actually hop into people's cars and drive

them down the steep grades of Mount (not-so) Pleasant.

"They're frightened to death to drive down that hill," he said.

Though police receive numerous calls for assistance at the beginning of a snow

fall, Lt Lydem said the most dangerous time on the roads is after the storm,

when the roads appear clear, but remain icy.

As for those four-wheel drive vehicles, Lt Lydem said people think they can

travel faster in those, but four-wheel drive provides more traction, not

braking.

Lt Lydem said snow that falls during warmer weather is more slippery than the

powdery stuff which falls in colder temperatures.

Snow is not a welcome sight for Newtown's postal workers, either, who have the

added difficulty of no longer being able to use chains on the tires of their

vehicles. In November 1996, in an effort to reduce expenses, the order went

out from the USPS in Washington, D.C., that chains could no longer be used on

the tires of all postal trucks. According to Newtown Postmaster Richard

McGuire, the chains are not only expensive, but have been known to damage the

undercarriage of the aluminum vehicles or puncture the gas tanks on the trucks

if they break.

According to Peggy Shab, a delivery supervisor with the post office, the mail

is delivered with extra special caution and brake pressure to Sunset Hill,

Robin Hill, Cedar Hill, Orchard Hill, Obtuse, Shepherd Hill, Ox Hill, Pond

Brook, Butterfield, Church Hill Roads and Lake View Terrace.

"Neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night..." no longer seems to apply to

mail deliveries, which were delayed by snow on occasion last year. An

ambulance, on the other hand, must get through, sometimes as a matter of life

and death.

Of course, there are those who say driving in the snow is not a concern of

theirs. As they point out, it's not the weather or the road that is at issue

here, it's the driver. Bad drivers, after all, can make any road dangerous no

matter what the weather.