Winter is coming - and with it the return of the 48-hour space-saver rule

Boston officials gathered in front of a giant pile of sand and one of the city's two new mega snow blowers today to vow they're ready for what winter might bring.

Mayor Walsh said the new snow movers will help Boston begin to emulate what Montreal does, rather than what Boston has traditionally done: Remove snow as it falls, rather than just piling it up along curbs and on street corners.

Public Works Commissioner Michael Dennehy said the new snow blowers, when combined with dump trucks, can move 2,000 tons of snow an hour off streets - which he said was a key reason he decided to buy two of them, rather than buying snow melters, which, at best can melt 350 tons of snow an hour.

Walsh noted that after last winter's storms, the city had to spend considerable amounts just in overtime for removing all that piled up snow and ice, long after the storms had ended.

"We're going from a city that used to push snow around to a city that actually takes the snow off the street," he said, adding he hopes to set aside money to buy a new giant snow blower a year for the next few years. Dennehy added that private snow-removal contractors will get paid a bonus if they buy similar units and use them on city streets.

Walsh started a press conference at the DPW facility on Frontage Road by declaring the city will continue the long-standing practice of letting residents who dig out spaces save them for 48 hours after the end of a snow emergency. He noted the one exception is the South End, where the city will continue last year's pilot of banning all space savers all the time.

Dennehy said the city is looking to find additional places to stow snow, because the higher the snow gets piled, the longer it takes to melt - the last of the Tide Street snow didn't melt until July 14. He added, though, that even if the city can't find additional land for snow piles, he remains committed to keeping street snow from being dumped into Boston Harbor. He noted DPW crews pulled 400 tons of stuff out of the snow piled at Tide Street - 400 tons of things that did not wind up in the harbor.

City officials added they are looking to add more beds to the city's shelter system for the homeless - and that the state is looking at possible sites outside the city for shelters to help relieve the stress on Boston.

Walsh said the city would consider a return to the one-way street experiment in South Boston if conditions warranted - and that the Transportation Department is looking at other gridded parts of the city where that might also work - in East Boston and parts of Dorchester and Roxbury.

Walsh also said that "We've been giving guarantees by the T that service will be up and running."

New city snow blower to Mother Nature: Bring it.