With the southeastern part of the state expecting to get hit by snow Friday, highway departments, hardware stores and parents are gearing up for the winter weather.
“When we know the snow is on our doorstep within an hour or two window, we'll go out and pretreat the road,” said Tom Curioso, highway supervisor for the Town of Stonington.
He said his crews aren’t pretreating the roads yet because Tuesday night’s rush hour traffic will move the material around.
“We want it in the center of the lane. As it works, it becomes wet and creates a brine solution. The brine solution melts everything down,” Curioso said.
For most of the afternoon crews attached snow plows, fueled up and filled their trucks with salt.
Sixteen trucks will be out on the roads Wednesday morning, according to Curioso. That’s all hands on deck, except for a couple of maintenance trucks.
Plow drivers will be following 14 dedicated routes and clearing the roads connecting tow Route 1, I-95, Route 184 and Pequot Trail.
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Wednesday morning will be the fifth time Stonington Highway Department plows are out on the roads, Curioso said. Considering this point in the winter it’s a small number, according to Curioso. On average, the plows hit the roads 17 to 22 times a season.
Managers at Cash True Value Home Center in Mystic expect eleventh hour purchases of salt, sand, and shovels.
“(The snow) gets talked down, it gets talked up. So the more that they hear about it at work and from their friends, they'll come in last minute,” said Assistant Manager Jon Daigle.
Moms are already equipped to keep their kids warm at the bus stop.
"We're pulling out snow suits and mittens and hats,” said Libby Cooke of Stonington Borough.
But kids are hoping the weather means school delays.
"Definitely going to have to check and see whether there's a delay for the school busses,” said Ashley Foley of Stonington Borough. “My kids are already excited about the possibility!”
