BUFFALO, N.Y. — The City of Buffalo plow crews and all the commuters out there made it through the first real snowfall of the season in downtown Buffalo, even if it was only about two inches.
Considering that some people have harshly criticized the City of Buffalo for past snow removal efforts, we checked in again Wednesday to gauge response and get some assessment of how it went.
They handled it "reasonably well." That's the viewpoint of Buffalo Department of Works Commissioner Nate Marton as to how his plow crews dealt with the morning rush hour burst of lake effect snow.
Marton said earlier Wednesday morning they had about 20 trucks out pre-treating the city streets with salt, and they could draw on their fleet of 50 assorted vehicles to actually handle the plowing.
The city got about 2 inches Wednesday morning, but that did come down right at the height of the morning rush hour, so that always slows things down, as it should, with people being smart and driving slower on slippery roadways and leaving some extra space with the vehicle in front.
Channel 2 Reporter Alex Rios-Malviya did ask some folks what they thought this morning about their ride in.
One man near City Hall told her, "They were doing pretty good. So far it looks like they're doing pretty good. You know, good job."
Another woman said: "Today was a little longer. The expressway was backed up a lot. It was a little longer for sure."
Alex asked, how do you think then the city did as far as plowing?
The woman replied, "I think they're on it. I've seen a lot of plows, like I said, so I like that."
Another woman told 2 On Your Side: "Well, it took an extra 20 minutes. It wasn't too bad. Downtown was worse than North Buffalo."
2 On Your Side asked, how do you think the city snow plows did?
One woman said, "Well, they were right in front of us, so they were doing pretty good."
Some people complained on social media that they felt it was a much longer commute in, especially on the expressways and interstates. But we must point out that the state DOT actually plows those roads. And then probably in general, again, people just slowed down as the snow started flying, as they really should do.
There were no reports of any major accidents Wednesday morning.