This is a scene of the South Boston Seaport "snow farm," where truckloads of snow from city streets are unloaded and then pushed around by heavy machinery to make room for the next loads.
What do you see right behind the snow piles? Boston Harbor.
Where is that snow going to go when it finally melts? Into Boston Habor.
Several years ago, I suggested that during major snow accumulations, the state DEP should grant the City of Boston a waiver to dump the snow into the Harbor.
Why does it matter? It matters for no other reason that it takes longer to clean the streets when you have to go through this routine of hauling and pushing, hauling and pushing. It won't solve all the problems, but it will help.
After several large snowfalls, those city streets become dangerous obstructions to emergency traffic and cause intense traffic jams. That's what's happening right now. Here are some recent tweets on Twitter from Adam Gaffin at Universal Hub:
Surface road front of Federal Reserve Building is blocked off by 2 police cars. Accidents on xway mean no where to put cars
Are there any police offers in Kenmore directing traffic? Lights not working.
Don't even bother with Memorial Drive.
Evening crawl hour in full force on Atlantic by Summer: Nobody's going anywhere
Huntington by MDA a parking lot. Honking horns does nothing, folks, just FYI. Ambulances cannot get through, either.
Roads in #Southie are so bad that Uber drivers don't want to come here, and that's the only real transit system we have.
Storrow east backed up to bu exit. WORLDCLASS CITY
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