City still wears a winter coating

Some are saying beach season is early this year, and not because of the weather. Sand, left behind after a brutal winter, is everywhere. It is in gutters, on sidewalks and lawns, in people's homes and hair. There is so much on some streets that travel is treacherous for everything from bicycles to baby carriages.

During a winter when snow and ice seemed to lay siege to the city, an armada of trucks put down a colossal 43,000 tons of sand, about three times the amount spread on streets the year before and twice as much as in snow-plagued 2002-'03. Now, residents from Dorchester to Beacon Hill are griping, and city workers are scrambling to get it cleaned up.

City officials say they are moving as fast as they can. They say they have hired extra street sweepers and are pleading with residents to move their vehicles so sweepers can do their job. A computer-generated map gives daily updates of what has been cleaned.

''We're making real progress," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino during a Monday morning cleanup of Downtown Crossing. ''People are really happy with the progress."

Not Amanda Wright of Roslindale, who was out for a walk with a friend and her 4-year-old daughter this week. Sand covering the street and sidewalk made for difficult travel with a stroller, and gusting winds whipped up clouds of grit.

''You can see it in her hair," Wright said, picking specks from her daughter's head. Nearby, her friend Suzanne Bittrolff struggled to push a baby carriage.

''It's like hydroplaning," she said, wincing at the sound of sand grinding in the wheels. ''Can you hear the sand? It's disgusting!"

Similar stories hail from across the city.

In South Boston: ''You kind of feel like you're in Iraq with the sand blowing around," said Lenny Elliott, 35.

In Brighton: ''Dirty outside and dirty inside," said Nicolas Cellupica, 21, a native of Paris who came to Boston for college this year and said he cannot seem to avoid tracking sand into his apartment.

In Dorchester: ''If the city wants to reimburse me the $7 for the car wash . . . I wouldn't bat an eye," said Gary Barkowski, 43, who had recently washed and vacuumed sand from his car.

For cyclists, conditions have been more than an annoyance. The quick stops or sudden turns in Boston's unforgiving traffic could mean bad falls as tires skid in the sand. Andrew Fischer, a lawyer, said he has tried to avoid accidents on his rides through the Back Bay by staying closer to the middle of the street, where automobile traffic has cleared most of the grit.

''I ride down Commonwealth Avenue, and I get honked at all the time," he said.

Fidel Argueta, 55, who relies on his bike for transportation, said he's been lucky so far but that he has seen others take bad spills.

''They're going very fast. When they see [the sand], they swerve and slip," Argueta said.

Boston's public works officials said much more sand was required this winter because snow came and stayed. Large snowfalls followed by cold days and nights meant slick streets and multiple applications of sand. The city also put down about 100,000 tons of salt this year, twice as much as it has in any of the past four years.

In years past, Boston has sold sand it sweeps up. But this year -- when it spent $306,716 on sand -- officials say they also plan to filter it and reuse as much as possible.

Used sand is less effective, public works officials said, because it tends to become finer and provides less traction. Since March, city sweepers have cleared some 7,500 tons of sand from city streets. In the last weekend alone, 950 tons were collected.

City officials say they will stay out on the streets until they are clean.

Residents can help by moving their vehicles when the city posts signs alerting them of sweep times, said Joseph Casazza, commissioner of the Department of Public Works.

''Compliance with our regulations is a major factor in the accomplishment of what the mayor and I want so badly and so quickly," he said.

Some residents blamed the state of the roads on automobile owners who did not move their vehicles; sweepers came, they said, but could not get to the curbs because of the parked cars.

Others said they have yet to see sweepers in their neighborhoods.

Kate O'Kelly of Beacon Hill said she called for sweepers a few weeks ago. They came, but most of her neighbors failed to move their vehicles -- and much of the sand remained.

''If people moved their cars on street sweeping days, that would help," she said.

Globe correspondent Janette A. Neuwahl also contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.