City announces massive snow removal effort

BOSTON (WHDH) -- The city of Boston just announced the creation of a "snow removal strike team" Monday.

Several city agencies are now working together, their goal: to get the snow, ice and debris left after the weekend's devastating blizzard off the streets.

A parade of bulldozers, plows and salt trucks rolled out of the city's public works headquarters as officials announced the start of a massive snow removal effort.

“It’s an arduous process and I don't think we can get it all done in one shot, but we're going to do our damn best to get as much done as possible,” said Joanne Massaro, Boston Public Works commissioner.

Some city streets were snowed in all weekend, like in Dorchester, where residents cleared the road using their own snow blowers.

“The focus was on secondary streets, it was very important to the mayor that we get there I know he was frustrated, and so were we, people wanted to get out. We spent, all night we worked on that,” said

As of Monday afternoon, Boston crews plowed 810 miles of roads since the storm dumped 25 inches of snow in 24 hours. And city tow trucks yanked about 430 cars off the streets since the parking ban began, and ticketed nearly 3,400 people.

Officials say leaving your cars off the street this week will help them get the roads clear.

“We got to thank the public for their patience so far and we ask for a little more patience. We’re trying to get the city ready for a regular day commute,” said a Boston Police official.

Meantime, city residents continue digging out. And we're starting to see the iconic signs we've come to expect after storms; homemade parking spot savers.

One Charlestown resident dodged cars and plows just to shovel out his convertible.

“Jumping in and out of traffic is somewhat difficult,” said James O’Brien, Charlestown resident.

City officials say if they missed a street, or there's a snow related problem, to call the mayor's hotline and report it.