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Highway Dept. takes over snow plowing of some parkways

By Associated Press, Monday, February 7, 2005

BOSTON - The Massachusetts Highway Department will take over snowplowing duties on some state parkways after poor plowing by the Department of Conservation and Recreation was blamed for injuries to four high school students who were hit by a truck.

Mass. Highway Commissioner John Cogliano said Monday that the agency reached an agreement with the governor's office to assume plowing duties on 80 miles of roadway that had been the responsibility of DCR.

While it includes busy arteries like Storrow Drive and Fresh Pond Parkway, the transfer will not immediately include the VFW Parkway, where the four teens were struck by a pickup truck near West Roxbury High School on Friday. None of their injuries were life-threatening.

School officials complained that the sidewalks had not been cleared of snow, forcing students to walk on the busy street. Katherine Abbott, head of the conservation and recreation department, resigned at the request of Gov. Mitt Romney [related, bio] after the incident.

Romney asked Mass. Highway to take over plowing duties on the 500-plus miles of parkways maintained by DCR. But Cogliano said his agency would immediately add just 15 percent of those roadways to its plowing responsibilities, with the rest - including VFW Parkway - to be added over time.

He said it makes sense for the highway department to handle the plowing duties on those roads, rather than DCR, the agency formed last year to replace the Metropolitan District Commission.

``Let them manage the parks, let Mass. Highway manage the roads and bridges,'' Cogliano said. ``That will be the most efficient way of using the taxpayers' money.'"

Acting DCR commissioner Steve Pritchard said sidewalks along parkways will also remain the DCR's responsibility

``I think this is a really good thing for public safety,'' he told The Boston Globe.