By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON -- The Town of Canton Highway Department’s preparations for winter road plowing, sanding and salting are underway.

“We’re in pretty good shape here,” said Highway Superintendent Terry Billings, who reports that two of the town’s seven plow trucks are “100 percent, and the rest are in various stages of setup and will have maintenance next week” in order to be ready to keep the 101 miles of town roads open.

“It takes a bout a week for each truck, bumper to bumper,” he said. That includes checks of sanders and spreader chains, and repairing holes “that are worn right through the sides” by the abrasive materials.

He said he is taking early preparation seriously because he remembers a surprise storm around Halloween 10 years ago.

The department has taken delivery of the 1,000 tons of salt they ordered, an amount that is typical of deliveries over the last 10 years.

Billings notes that the price of salt continues to rise, from $38.67 per ton for the winter of 2008-09, to $64.60 last year, to $67 this year.

“But the big break we’re getting is on the price of fuel,” as fuel prices remain low across the country, Billings said.