Stoneham Preps for Blizzard of '13

The Stoneham Department of Public Works is fully prepped for this weekend's blizzard, and DPW Director Robert Grover is asking residents to do their part and get cars off the street for plowing and to avoid plowing snow in driveways onto sidewalks.

"If you can, shovel the sidewalk in front of your house and please, if you have a driveway plow, do not plow in the sidewalk area," Grover said. "There will be sidewalk plows out there—they will be coming out after the plow trucks."

The DPW has a full salt shed and sand-salt mix ready to go, the trucks are all fueld up and blades have been mounted on all the trucks, Grover said. There are also food supplies coming in for the workers, given that most restaurants and stores will likely be closed tomorrow.

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There will be 20 pieces of DPW equipment on the road and 43 contractors, Grover said, which will start with a salt operation and then sand and salt to keep traffic moving on Friday.

"Once there's three inches on the ground we will begin plowing," he said. "We will continue plowing until the end of the storm and then we'll have to treat (the roadways). At the same time, we'll be taking care of the sidewalks. I assume most activities will be not too good on Saturday morning, based on the weather report that I've heard, but after that everything should be fine. Just have a little patience."

Given that the worst of the storm is expected overnight on Friday into Saturday morning, Grover said the street parking ban will hopefully be over by Saturday night.

"I'm hoping that by Saturday at 6 o'clock or so, we should be able to lift that based on what I've heard," he said.

There also won't be any changes to the trash pickup schedule, with Friday morning's pickup still happening and Monday should be on a regular schedule.