After two days of heavy snowfall buried Boston in more than 20 inches of snow, city crews and residents were still digging out Tuesday, as bitter cold and towering snowbanks left neighborhood streets narrowed, sidewalks slick, and daily routines slowed across the city.
City crews continued working across Boston, shifting focus from major roadways to residential streets and sidewalks in neighborhoods including the South End, Chinatown, Downtown, Beacon Hill, and Back Bay. While main streets thoroughfares have largely been cleared, officials said the scale of the storm has slowed progress on narrower side streets.
“The plows are still out there now,” said city Councilor Ed Flynn, who represents District 2. “A priority for me is to ensure that we have safe and accessible streets for all.”
Southern New England was buried under 23 inches of snow during the storm, making it one of the region’s biggest in decades. The total ranked eighth on record and surpassed the Blizzard of 2005, when 22.5 inches of snow fell in Boston. Forecasters warned that bitter cold will continue through this weekend, limiting snowmelt, while meteorologists also monitored the potential for a nor’easter to develop late in the week.
In past winters, Boston has sometimes removed snow entirely from city streets, transporting it to designated snow farms, empty lots where it can safely melt. City officials have not yet confirmed whether similar measures will be used this year.
Boston Public Works deployed over 900 pieces of equipment to clear streets, Mayor Michelle Wu’s office said in a statement. Workers have focused on clearing intersections, crosswalks and curb ramps, and have coordinated with schools to keep bus routes open. Overnight snow removal operations continued Tuesday, with crews moving large piles to off-road locations. Space savers were set to be collected starting Thursday, along with regular trash collection, Wu’s office said.
Flynn said crews and contractors are limited in how long they can operate within a 24-hour period to ensure safety, noting that city officials have remained in close contact with the Public Works Department throughout the cleanup.
“Our city employees are doing a good job under very difficult circumstances,” he said. “It is the priority that we have to provide the necessary sleep for people that are plowing the streets and contractors. That’s also about public safety.”
The MBTA said service continued through the storm thanks to frontline workers, though delays and disruptions remain. Disabled trains and snow-related switch and signal problems affected the Red, Orange, and Blue lines, while the Green and Mattapan lines were running smoothly, the transit agency said. Many buses remained on snow routes Tuesday and paratransit service have been slowed by uncleared streets as crews continue snow removal efforts.
Similar snow removal efforts were underway in Cambridge on Tuesday, where the city deployed approximately 75 pieces of equipment since the start of the storm, and another 100 pieces were sent out via contractors, according to Jeremy Warnick, a Cambridge spokesperson.
Cambridge’s snow hauling operations began Tuesday night, taking snow to Danehy Park and, if needed, to a second location in Allston owned by Harvard University, Warnick said.
As cleanup continued, the impact of the storm remained visible on Boston’s streets.
In South Boston, plowed side streets were narrowed to single lanes, with parked cars nearly submerged beneath packed snow. Between vehicles, chairs, folding tables, and compost bins were pressed into service as space savers and dotted the curbside.
Sidewalks were even narrower, often incompletely cleared and blocked by snow piled at house entrances. Pedestrians clutched building walls to steady themselves on slick patches.
John MacDougall, a 26-year-old sales analyst and South Boston resident, opted to walk in the street rather than use the slippery sidewalk while returning to his C Street apartment from Stop & Shop.
“I just walked on the main roads, while cars are just blowing right by me,” he said.
MacDougall, who works remotely, said even short trips felt difficult after the storm. The grocery store is less than a mile from his apartment, but snow-covered sidewalks made the walk feel longer.
“The first day after the storm is pretty rough,” he said. “But getting people out here to clear these roads is dangerous for them, and I think they’re doing their best given the large amount of snow we got.”
A few blocks away on West Third Street, Brittani LeBlanc, 27, stood breathless after digging her Toyota Corolla out from a deep snowbank. Originally from Townsend, LeBlanc said she’s accustomed to winter weather, but this was her first major snowstorm living in the city.
“The hardest part is figuring out where to put it all,” she said.
“Somebody said to just put it on the street and they’ll come,” she added, “but I don’t know. I always feel bad doing that.”
LeBlanc said snow plows had passed regularly down her street for nearly 24 hours during the storm, though she had not seen them Tuesday. She credited her neighbors for doing a good job shoveling the sidewalk in front of their homes.
With another storm possible approaching, she offered simple advice.
“I definitely recommend to anybody who is parking to park in a garage spot,” she said, leaning against her open car door.
Flynn noted the importance of resident safety, particularly for seniors and people with disabilities. He urged residents to clear sidewalks, fire hydrants, and crosswalks to maintain access for pedestrians and emergency responders, and encouraged neighbors to help one another.
“And us neighbors help each other out,” LeBlanc said. “[My roommates and I] broke a shovel, and then somebody loaned us theirs.”
In Dorchester, similar scenes played out as snow plows passed through and residents shoveled sidewalks. A Public Works vehicle arrived on Gibson Street carrying salt, while a resident worked her way down the sidewalk clearing snow.
“You’ve got to help your neighbors,” she said.
Thomas McLaughlin, a 70-year-old retiree who previously worked in snow removal, treaded carefully along Gibson Street, noting it was “still hard to walk on” despite cleanup efforts.
“I’m very cautious because I don’t want to fall at this age and break anything,” McLaughlin said. “You take it for granted [that] it’s all soft and mushy, but it could be very slippery.”
Sunny Ortiz, a 27-year-old Roxbury resident who works for a commercial cleaning company, walked along Gibson Street toward a bus stop and said he had largely avoided public transportation due to delays.
Ortiz said he is grateful to the city’s street-clearing efforts.
“You don’t really want to wait 20, 30, 40 minutes for a train ride, so shout out to Mayor Wu,” he said. “The streets were still kind of clear, so I could go on the street and walk, [and] today, you could walk on the sidewalk.”
Ortiz said he had walked across much of Boston in recent days and didn’t mind seeing others enjoying the snow.
“We’ve got another one this week,” he said. “We’ll see how it is, just go day by day.”
Lauren Albano can be reached at lauren.albano@globe.com. Follow her on X @LaurenAlbano_. Aayushi Datta can be reached at aayushi.datta@globe.com.