What about snow removal in Dubna?

In the very first days after the New Year holidays, numerous messages appeared on social media from motorists dissatisfied with the quality of snow removal from roads in our city. On some streets, roadways have literally turned into single-lanes. Is there any hope that the situation will improve?

"Be careful on Sakharova Street - the roadway is narrowed to one lane," a member of the "Dubna podslushano" community on the VKontakte social network writes. And he publishes a photo of the road, on which two cars obviously cannot pass.

Other examples of problem areas are given in the comments, where the quality of snow removal leaves much to be desired: "Pontecorvo Street opposite the houses-"sevens" is just a single-track all winter. They don't clean the second lane at all", "When leaving the yard of 14 Popova Street, there are such ruts that it's scary to drive", "On Pravda Street you have to go to the side of the road to let an oncoming car pass." "If it goes on like this, we will have to use rickshaws to get around Dubna," one of the participants of the discussion notes with bitter humor.

Your correspondent drove around the Chernaya Rechka district in order to personally evaluate the situation. The conclusions were disappointing, with reproaches for poor-quality snow removal on the roadway confirmed. Traffic moves slowly on the main highway - Bogolyubov Avenue, with two lanes in each direction. But some narrow streets did become single-lane. If a truck is driving towards you along Pontecorvo Street, there is nothing to do but to press against the snowy drifts on the side of the road, risking damage to your car. And on the section of the road opposite the editorial office of the newspaper "Ploshchad Mira" even two cars cannot pass.

The Dubna Administration promptly responded to the publication on the social network. The very next day after the publication of the post about Sakharov Street that had turned into a single-lane street, the official response of the city authorities was posted in the comments: "Dear citizens, thank you for contacting us and we apologize for the temporary inconvenience. On 9 January, the declared area was cleaned within the framework of the municipal contract." In confirmation of the work carried out, the Administration posted a short video of the cleaned road.

Of course, such feedback is welcome. However, we note that this is not yet a systematic solution to the problem, for motorists experience difficulties not only on Sakharov Street. Is it realistic for communal services to organize their work in such a way that the citizens of Dubna would not have to pay attention to this or that problem area every time through social networks in the hope that measures will be taken?

As Anton Gorshkov, Deputy Head of the Department of Improvement, Transport and Road Infrastructure of the Dubna Administration assured, the workers of public utilities do their best to remove snow from the streets as quickly as possible, sometimes working without holidays and days off. The state of the roads is reported daily to Mayor of Dubna. "If something does not work out as we would like, it is not our fault, but our misfortune," Head of the Department says. According to him, it is necessary to act on the basis of available resources - financial and technical. And they are limited. Money is allocated in accordance with the federal law "On Procurement" and this is not the amount that the city needs. There are also problems with snow removal vehicles, with a total of 38 units in Dubna, including 20 MTZ tractors. Every day, about 75 percent of the available equipment goes out on the roads, as a few of it have to be periodically repaired or sent for preventive maintenance. As for the New Year holidays, the work of public utilities was also impeded by adverse weather conditions - heavy snowfalls and frost, due to which tractors not always start. Nevertheless, snow removal was also carried out over the holiday period.

Due to limited resources, it is impossible to pay equal attention to all city roads and priorities have to be set. First of all, the main highways, "pockets" of public transport stops, areas near schools, kindergartens and hospitals are cleaned of snow. And only then - minor streets.

There is some good news, too. According to Anton Gorshkov, Dubna has purchased 4 additional units of cleaning equipment. Currently, it is registered and they will soon start working. It means that municipal workers will have more opportunities to cope better with their tasks.

A lively discussion in social networks is also caused by snow removal in the adjacent territories. Motorists complain that when cleaning city roads with a grader, the entrances to the yards are sometimes blocked by snow dumps.

"You cannot drive to the house. Who is supposed to clean snow from the entrances to the yards?" the members of the "Podslushano Dubna" group in VKontakte ask. In fact, we are talking about the border areas between city highways and yards. It is not clear whose area of responsibility it is - municipal services or management companies.

In the discussions, some call for seeking the truth by complaining to "higher authorities", but there are also those who believe that it is not bad for citizens to take at least a minimal part in cleaning the entrances to the yards themselves. "Perhaps, I will reveal a secret to someone, but shovels are sold in stores", "Cleaning the entrance on your own is a maximum of 10 minutes of work," they write in comments. The topic, of course, is controversial, but let's face it: many people are really used to relying solely on public utilities. Of course, cleaning up the city is the direct responsibility of public utilities, but maybe a public initiative should also be shown? In fact, it is not at all difficult to clean the area in front of your entrance from snow - the neighbors will say thank you, or at your own parked car, without waiting for the yard to be cleaned by a tractor. And what do you think?

Dmitry Soldatenkov