Crews careful during winter storm amid 2nd wave of COVID-19

Highway Department and DPW workers throughout the area will be out in the storm to make sure roads are cleared, even during this second surge of coronavirus cases.

News 12 Staff

Dec 16, 2020, 11:28 PM

Updated 1,398 days ago

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Cleanup crews will have to be careful clearing the roads in the snowstorm as well as from COVID-19.
Highway Department and DPW workers throughout the area will be out in the storm to make sure roads are cleared, even during this second surge of coronavirus cases.
Michael Sheehan is wrapping up his first year as the highway superintendent for the Town of Wappinger. He has 17 workers responsible for more than 100 miles of road.
Town of Fishkill Highway Superintendent Kenneth Williams has 30 employees and on-call subcontractors to take care of more than 200 miles of road.
Both departments say they are lucky they have not had to deal with an outbreak, and they’re hoping to keep it that way.
“Each driver has its own truck, so they’ll be driving separate the entire storm,” said Sheehan. “When they want to rest, they can come in and they have their own little hiding spot and they can rest.”
In East Fishkill, two people are needed to operate their wing trucks.
“This one here has a wing. So there’s another operator that’s required to work in that truck with them,” said Williams.
Williams says truckers will wear masks and have hand sanitizer in their trucks.