Neighbors on Strickland Street in Glastonbury were stunned when Irene's wind gusts snapped a massive tree, taking down power lines and making the road impassable, but residential roads were not the only ones blocked by trees that came down during the storm's fury.
"At one point during the height of the storm, we had over 300 state roads closed, all as a result of tree problems, trees in the roadway,” Department of Transportation spokesperson Kevin Nursick said.
That has prompted Gov. Dannel Malloy to ask the state DOT to look into whether it should be more aggressive when it comes to removing trees and limbs along state roads.
"Proactive tree trimming is something we do on a regular basis and we have crews to do that. The difference here would be: should we be doing it differently? Should we be doing more?" Nursick said.
Nursick said the first step is pinpointing trouble spots and maintenance supervisors are already out on state roads assessing the tree situation. The DOT will then take their evaluation to the governor to see if changes should be made.
After seeing the tree damage firsthand, Ken Kubachka, of Glastonbury, says it's not a bad idea.
"It's kind of hard to predict, I would say though,” Kubachka said.
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"We have a lot of trees in the state of Connecticut. It's impossible to keep up with all them and they've got budgets to meet,” Mike Morrissey, of Glastonbury, said.
It's early in the process, so Nursick said there is no estimate as to how much more money or manpower a more aggressive program would take.
