DENVER (CBS4)- Road crews with the Colorado Department of Transportation are preparing for significant snow along the Front Range, Denver metro area and Eastern Plains. That snow is expected to start falling Thursday evening.

Crews are prepared to go on snow shift Thursday afternoon once snow begins to fall. Once on snow shift, CDOT maintenance crews will work 12-hour shifts around the clock through the snowstorm until the highways are clear of snow and ice.

CBS4 Forecaster Lauren Whitney is calling for snow to begin Thursday evening and intensify through the evening hours with a total of 10-18 inches of snow through Saturday morning.

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High winds are also expected with the storm which could make some travel conditions difficult.

Denver Public Works will deploy all 126 light plows for residential streets. Typically, the department does not clear residential streets except for extreme circumstances. This storm has the criteria needed to deploy residential plows.

That equipment includes 4×4 pickups and small dump trucks with plows. The light plows will plow one lane down the center of side streets to prevent thick snowpack and keep them manageable. Those plows will not spread any de-icing material.

In addition to the light plows, Denver Public Works street maintenance will deploy 68 large plows to plow and spread de-icing materials as needed to Denver’s main streets. Those are identified with stripes for lane divisions.

“The light plows will start later this evening. The large plows will start when snow starts accumulating,” said Denver Public Works spokeswoman Christine Downs.

Castle Rock has 20 road crews patrolling the area. Fort Collins is planning on having 24 trucks on the roads.

Centennial will have one dozen plows patrolling streets. The City of Littleton has six snowplow/sander crews on standby.

In Boulder, 15 large plows and two bike path trucks will be deployed.