Mayor Harry Shortway says the township will fix what went wrong
VERNON -- More than 20 inches of snow and a shortage of snowplows has resulted in lots of side roads still coated with snow and ice more than 15 hours after the storm ended, Mayor Harry Shortway said Wednesday.
"We've received dozens and dozens of complaints about roads not being touched," Shortway said, adding, "We're going to fix it."
While Tuesday's storm did not live up to the hype in many parts of New Jersey, the 68-square-mile township bore the brunt of it.
By 9 a.m. Wednesday, much of Sussex County's largest municipality remained difficult to navigate, Shortway said.
"The main arteries, there's no problems. It's just the back communities," said Shortway, adding the Vernon has 101 miles of roads.
Asked what went wrong, Shortway said the township has nearly 20 snowplows, but that four had been taken out of the fleet prior to the storm due to blown engines and needing repairs.
"We need better maintenance schedules," Shortway said.
Two other went down during the storm, Shortway said, adding that at the height of a whiteout, drivers were pulled off the roads for about 45 minutes for safety reasons.
Compounding the problem, private contractors in some cases were pushing snow from driveways onto roads, the mayor said
Shortway spoke to NJ Advance Media by phone while touring Vernon with Police Chief Randy Mills.
"We're out here assessing how this is not going to happen again," he said.
Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook