Boston - Schools and most public transit systems remained closed around Boston on Tuesday as eastern Massachusetts dug out from its third major winter storm in two weeks.
Officials warned that buildings with flat roofs were at risk of collapsing after a three-day storm dropped about two feet (60 cm) across the region and a suburban school district north of Boston canceled all classes for the rest of the week to allow crews to clear roofs.
Commuters expressed exasperation that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority shut down all rail service for the day to allow crews to clear snow from above-ground tracks after two trains loaded with commuters were stranded in the past two weeks.
“I was surprised at the MBTA shutdown. You can't just shut down the city,” Ariel Freiberg, 32, of Somerville, said as she waited at the main train station for an Amtrak train to New York. The Amtrak service was running at full capacity despite the MBTA's shutdown.
“The people it hurts are the people who really have to get to work,” Freiberg said.
Nearby, 49-year-old software engineer Steve Holmes questioned the decision to shut the trains when the city is struggling to clear roads before another expected snowstorm on Thursday.
“They're asking people not to drive into Boston, yet they're shutting down the trains. It doesn't make a lot of sense,” Holmes said.
Boston's mayor, Marty Walsh, began talks with the city's teachers union on how to make up some of the eight school days canceled so far this year due to the repeated storms that have hit the region in the past two weeks.
The repeated snow days were taking a toll on parents. Kelsey Wirth, a 45-year-old climate change activist who works out of her home, said she was running out of ideas to occupy her 8- and 9-year-old daughters.
“Work never ends. Even if Boston shuts down, life goes on,” Wirth said. “When I heard school was closed again, I said, 'OK, today is project day,'“ referring to lining up chores for her children.
Air travel returned to normal, with just 12 percent of scheduled flights at Boston's Logan International Airport canceled, according to FlightAware.com.
A Massachusetts State Trooper delivered a baby in a car stuck on a Boston highway early on Tuesday morning, police said.
The school district Pentucket, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64.37 kilometers) north of Boston canceled classes for the rest of the week as crews worked to remove snow from building roofs.
Jury selection for the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the murder trial of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez were postponed for a second consecutive day due to the storm.
Reuters