Massive snow piles in parking lots can take weeks, if not months, to melt.
At one shoreline train station on Monday, commuters said snow piles are making it more difficult to park when space is already limited.
The parking lots on both sides of the West Haven Train Station were at or near capacity.
"I think that’s a waste of area," Leon Langs said of the area blocked off by orange cones near a large pile of snow that covers several spots. "They should have plowed it out or something."
For commuters catching the train in West Haven, the sooner the mount of snow melts, the better.
"I actually drove all the way here cause I figured it is easier parking than New Haven," Langs said. "But this is totally frustrating."
Langs gave up on a finding a space on the south side of the platform after 10 minutes of doing laps.
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"I got to hurry up or I’m going to miss my train," he said.
State DOT crews are responsible for plowing the train station parking lot. People who park on the other side of the orange cones are warned their cars will be towed.
"There’s a bunch of parking spots over there and for some reason, we can’t park," Roy Dunn from Branford said.
After driving around in circles for about 20 minutes, Dunn and his daughter were worried they would miss the next train to New York City.
“Terrible, there’s no spots on the other side, there’s no spots over here, nowhere else to park,” Dunn said. "I don’t know what to do."
The acting public works director for the City of West Haven told NBC Connecticut by phone there is room to push the snow over the bank. But first, he said he would like to do an exact car count to find out how many spots are open with the section by the snow piles closed off.
A DOT spokesperson said it would cost more money to move the snow off-site. He also said it is better to leave the piles on the pavement so the runoff with possible contaminants goes into the drainage system instead of a nearby low lying area.
