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Friday Editorial

Thanks to the winter warriors

April 4, 2014

We can’t let March lamb its way away from us without a few kind words for all of DelDOT’s plow operators and the dozens of private contractors who kept our roads passable and our parking lots cleared through one of the longest and toughest winters we’ve seen in many years.

Our hats are also off to the old and young foot soldiers who ventured out with shovels over their shoulders to clear sidewalks for their neighbors - sometimes for a buck or two to gainfully line their pockets, often just for the sheer pleasure of helping a neighbor.

As the winter progressed, we watched DelDOT’s brining and plowing efficiency increase with each passing storm. Little time passed between the end of the frequent snows and the return of our roads to a condition that allowed safe passage for emergency respond­ers and eventually the commercial vehicles that mark the activity of our communities and our day-in and day-out lives.

It’s difficult to overestimate the importance to all of us of keeping our roads cleared, our communities on the move, and our emergency responders - police, firefighters, ambulance drivers and medical technicians - in a position to be responsive in a timely fashion.

We say thanks to them. They provide a sense of security appreciated by most all of us. Now that the worst of the winter is be­hind us, a rainy weekend that didn’t stop strong crowds from coming to the resort area reminds us that the passability of our roads is threatened by more than just snowstorms.

Congestion too can hamper the ability of our communities to function smoothly and ef­ficiently.

Now that DelDOT can turn its attention for a few months away from the next snowstorm, efforts should return full tilt to figuring out how our roads can be improved to accom­modate the rapid growth which is even more evident now that the damper of winter has been lifted.

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