Town Highway Department Puts in More Than 13 Hours Saturday

Superintendent Stephen Lynch said the first snow storm clean-up he oversaw went smoothly.

Saturday's snowfall was the first on the town's roads since , took office just three weeks ago.

"It went rather well," Lynch said by phone on Saturday evening, as he and his department went on 13 hours of work.

Twenty-seven highway department employees, plus private contractors the town hired, worked to salt and plow the 310 miles of roads -- four times.

"Every single road in town is plowed and pushed back. And, now, we're starting to salt one last time," Lynch said at about 7:30 p.m.

He acknowledged that there were some complaints and not everyone can be happy, but he was told there were less complaints lodged than usual.

He explained that his department had to wait a bit before plowing. "There has to be enough to plow for us to go out," he said. The roads were salted in the morning and plowing of the main arteries started at 9:30 a.m., he said. Private contractors were called in to take care of the side roads at about 11 a.m.

Lynch doesn't expect to plow again on Sunday. "There's enough salt on the roads now," he said. His department has been salting since Thursday night at 8 p.m., when the police called due to the roads icing up. Workers salted again before school buses went out on Friday morning.