Waltham Snow Crews Have Much Work To Do; Parking Ban To Be Lifted

As the city works to recover from the snowstorm, Waltham public works crews “still have a lot of work to do,” in clearing the city’s streets, according to Consolidated Public Works Director Michael Chiasson. 

As of 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9, Chiasson described the roads as “average,” but he said crews have their work cut out for them.

"We have a lot of cleanup to do still," Chiasson said. 

However, the snow emergency will be lifted as of 10 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10. That means motorists must have their cars out of Waltham Public Schools lots by 10 a.m. to give plow crews room to work. Also, motorists must have their cars out of city-owned lots before regular parking hours resume on Monday, Feb. 11. 

As for whether school will be held on Monday, there is no official word yet. Chiasson said he believes the roads will be adequate to allow schools to open, but his crews are still working to clear sidewalks.

Chiasson said much of the cleanup operations would depend on the upcoming weather. Sunday's forecast calls for 32 degrees and sunny and Monday's forecast calls for 45 degrees with rain, according to Accuweather.com. 

Also, the city still has to clear snow from the sides of roads and tricky intersections, he said.

Overall, Chiasson said the CPW did an “OK” job clearing snow given the dark and windy blizzard conditions crews endured.

"It was a tough storm, through the overnight ... It was really hard to do a real good job,” he said. "Overall, we did an ok job. Not having too much blizzard experience, we can’t rate it against anything else.”

The storm did not cause any injuries for his workers. On Friday night, however, a CPW worker in a Bobcat tipped over during a wind gust. Thankfully, it occurred outside of the fire department headquarters on Lexington Street and crews quickly freed the driver. The driver was not harmed, Chiasson said.