Clean up nears completion week after blizzard

One week after the record breaking “Blizzard of ‘26,” the town has almost returned to normal. 

The town has cleared all the roads, but are working in shifts to make all roads easily traversable, according to Director of Public Works Tim Barber. Some of the residential roads and intersections still have large piles of snow, or only have one lane cleared. 

Public Works is working on making sure that bus stops and intersections are clear, and is working with the schools to prepare for students being back in school on a normal schedule.

Students returned to school on Monday with a two-hour delayed opening, and will have a delayed opening on Tuesday as well before school returns to its normal schedule on Wednesday, March 4. 

Barber said he hopes that the forecasted rain and warmer weather coming later in the week will help to clear some of the snow. However, he urges people to be safe traveling early in the day, as the snow could melt and freeze on the roads overnight. 

Public Works has been treating the road for ice, but it is still best to drive slowly when temperatures are below freezing. 

Barber stated that the main roads are “100%” safe to travel. 

“I think that the main roads are in really good shape, down to the pavement,” he said. 

As of 11:30 a.m. on Monday, March 2, the town’s state of emergency and travel ban have been lifted. 

Barber said  that if any residential roads are not fully cleared parking on both sides of the street could restrict some snow removal. 

Front loaders and dump trucks have moved the excess snow to store off the roads, such as in a parking lot off of Roger Street. 

As of Monday, March 2, all solid waste operations are back on schedule. This means that the town has seven plows and a number of contractors working to clear the roads. They have some of the trash vehicles equipped with plows to follow and aid with road clearing efforts. 

“But we are continuing to clear,” said Barber. 

All Dartmouth residents have had their power restored, according to Eversource.

The storm caused a pole on Chase Road to break, which did some damage to the Public Works treatment center there. During the storm, all the wells at this center were down. Half of them have been restored, but four wells are still out of commission. 

While this snowstorm did put a wrench in town operations and happenings, the South Coast is in a drought and Barber said that the three feet of snow could help. 

“If it’s able to infiltrate into the ground, it should help with the drought conditions,” he said.