The snow that blanketed the Chicago area last night and this morning may have caught some residents by surprise, but not the Bolingbrook Public Works Department, officials there said.

By noon Monday all main roads were clear of snow and secondary roads, side streets and courts had been plowed at least once, said Mike Drey, public works director.

“Usually the first good snowfall of a season catches people by surprise simply because it is the first one, but we had been prepared for this since last Wednesday ,” Drey said.

The public works department monitors two separate weather forecast services, and by the time the snow began falling Sunday morning main roads already had been treated with a special brine solution that helps prevent snow and ice from bonding to the road.

Throughout Sunday the department’s fleet of snow plows had cleared most of the roads as snow first “sprinkled, then picked up in accumulation later on,” Drey said.

“We worked hard at it consistently throughout the day until about 9 p.m., then brought in another 30 trucks at midnight — both our own crews and subcontractors — once the snow had effectively stopped. We were able to get it pretty well cleared by this morning,” Drey said.

“By the time people start returning home from work this afternoon all the roads in town should be completed,” Drey said.

Trucks continued to plow main arteries such as Illinois Route 53, Boughton Road, Remington Boulevard, Schmidt Road and Veterans Parkway throughout the storm.

“We treat those main roads continually throughout a storm, then work on the roads less traveled,” Drey said.

The snow did not have any significant impact on the village’s 7,000-ton stockpile of salt, Drey said.

“We have been minimizing the use of salt the past few years anyway, not just because of cost, but because of the environmental impact. Reducing the use of salt decreases the amount of chloride that eventually runs off into the watershed,” Drey said.

“I think overall we handled this storm pretty well. We were well prepared,” Drey said.

Between two and three inches of snow fell in the Bolingbrook area, and the timing of it helped in the cleanup efforts, Drey said.

“The snow had stopped prior to people waking up and going to work, so that always is a help in allowing crews to do their work without a lot of vehicles on the roads,” Drey said.