On narrow slow-clogged streets, residents’ frustrations mount

By Meghan Irons, Globe Staff

More than two days since a powerful storm dumped more than two feet of snow across this city, Brandin Ruff’s dead-end street in Roxbury remained unplowed Monday afternoon.

Cars were trapped in his driveway on Downey Court. The street was jammed with snow packed down by rain. Ruff had spent the past few days indoors, wondering whether he’ll ever get out.

“I haven’t left here since Friday,’’ he said. “It was worse than this. It’s starting to melt now because of the rain.”

While plowers worked the main streets and tackled 6-foot-high mounds of snow, help had yet to arrive on some of the city’s narrow and dead-end streets. As frustrations mounted, some residents called the city’s 24-hour hotline in fruitless efforts for action. Others, armed with shovels, spent the weekend clearing the streets themselves.

“We always do it if they don’t come around,’’ said one resident of Woodville Street in Roxbury who did not want his name published.

After the city began its cleanup, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said Sunday that clearing dead streets and narrow roads was his “number one priority.” His office sought and got additional pieces of plowing equipment such as dump trucks, backhoes, and front-end loaders to rove into residential areas and clear snow.

While the mayor urged patience as crews removed remnants of the city’s fifth-largest snowstorm, some residents said the wait was much too long.