BROCKTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Before there’s snow, there’s salt — piles of it!
Crews headed out to cover the streets of Brockton ahead of Friday morning’s storm, pretreating the entire city with hours until snowtime.
Once the snow started, the city was expected to have about 140 plows out on the roads cleaning up.
“We have our plows ready to go and our contractors on board, so once we get about an inch and half of snow to two inches on the ground, we’ll call all our plows in,” said the city’s DPW Commissioner, Pat Hill. “It’s been a quiet year. The guys are excited. A little bit of overtime money goes a long way. We’re ready to go.”
A snow emergency were put in place in anticipation of the season’s first big storm and all public schools are closed for the day.
Crews across the state also spent the night prepping for the snow.
Another winter season during a pandemic has caused staffing shortages in many industries – including this one.
“Putting people behind the wheel is going to be an issue,” said Marshfield DPW Superintendent Tom Reynolds.
He said they had five positive COVID-19 cases come in on Thursday and he is concerned private contractors could call out too.
“It’s going to take longer to get things done. It also means some management people may have to get behind the wheel also,” Reynolds explained.
Meanwhile, the state’s Department of Transportation has not forecasted any staffing issues. In a statement, a spokesperson wrote, “no crew shortages are expected. The department is confident that it has plenty of equipment, staff and materials.”
The DOT is expected to put about a thousand pieces of equipment out on state roads and highways.
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