Cars remain plowed-in by snow along Button Street, in New Haven, Conn. Feb. 3, 2026.
Snowbanks at an intersection on Kimberly Avenue, in New Haven, Conn. Feb. 3, 2026.
Parked cars partially block a lane of traffic along Tower Parkway due to snowbanks, in New Haven, Conn. Feb. 3, 2026.
Snowbanks at an intersection on Kimberly Avenue, in New Haven, Conn. Feb. 3, 2026.
Cars remain plowed-in by snow along Button Street, in New Haven, Conn. Feb. 3, 2026.
Parked cars partially block a lane of traffic along Tower Parkway due to snowbanks, in New Haven, Conn. Feb. 3, 2026.
Parked cars partially block a lane of traffic along Tower Parkway due to snowbanks, in New Haven, Conn. Feb. 3, 2026.
Parked cars partially block a lane of traffic along Tower Parkway due to snowbanks, in New Haven, Conn. Feb. 3, 2026.
Parked cars partially block a lane of traffic due to snowbanks along Tower Parkway, in New Haven, Conn. Feb. 3, 2026.
NEW HAVEN — Mayor Justin Elicker said city crews continue to remove snow from city streets over a week after more than 10 inches of snow fell on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26. And, he said, the consistently below-freezing temperatures mean the snow won't be going away on its own any time soon.
"Most of the time when we have a big storm, and we don’t have big storms frequently, Mother Nature kicks in shortly after we have these piles of snow and helps melt them away," he said. "This storm is somewhat unique because the cold temperatures have lasted for a very long time and will be likely to persist for a little big longer, so it’s a little bit of a different animal."
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Since late January's snowfall, many city streets are separated from long stretches of sidewalk by large snowbanks created by plows on the roads and property owners clearing their sidewalks.
In some areas of the city, spaces used for street parking are covered in mounds of snow tumbling from snowbanks, causing some motorists to park in lanes of travel and for traffic to narrow without enough space for vehicles. By the end of January, the city had towed 432 cars and ticketed 573; Elicker said the city would have towed more, but ran into capacity issues at tow yards.
Elicker said 19 trucks, a combination of Department of Public Works and contractor vehicles, and five payloaders, are working from 11 p.m. each day to 3:30 p.m. the next day to clear the roughly 800 city streets as well as snowbanks, with hours selected to avoid evening rush hour traffic.
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 Elicker said major thoroughfares and downtown streets are receiving priority for snow removal, but crews are "chipping away" at neighborhood streets as well.
"The big picture is this is a little bit of an unusual situation for Connecticut where there's been an extended period of cold and we are working through the snow removal and asking for people's patience as we do so," he said.
Elicker said city crews are using payloader machines to load snow from snowbanks in dump trucks, which transport the snow to city parking lots to melt in time. 
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He said the snow-melting "hot tub" machines used in nearby New York City were discussed as an option for New Haven, but were ultimately deemed "not very necessary or wise," because New Haven has somewhere to put snow in a more cost-efficient way, whereas New York City does not.
Since last month's storm, 10 property owners have been issued $250 fines for not clearing their sidewalks. 
Most of the property owners contacted for this story didn't respond to a request for comment, including the owner of the former Unger's Floor Covering on Grand Avenue and a Day Street church.
Among the properties cited is John C. Daniels School. City spokesman Lenny Speiller said the city's citation was issued to the snow removal contractor.
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"As I understand it, the fine was for pushing snow from the parking lot into a city street. The situation was rectified, but the fine was issued in any case," said New Haven Board of Education spokesman Justin Harmon in an emailed comment.
Elicker said the share of responsibility between roads and sidewalks is “not a perfect science by any means," but it is expected that the city clears streets and property owners clear sidewalks, including any bus stops that may be on those sidewalks. Elicker said there can be a share of ambiguity about the removal of the snowbanks that inevitably form between sidewalks and roads, but the city is responding to complaints registered on the website SeeClickFix about areas where curb cuts are not clear.
Brian Zahn is a reporter with the New Haven Register. Brian covers all things West Haven. Since September 2015, he has worked for the Register, where he has spent most of his time writing about schools and education.
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