Through the snarled traffic, buried neighborhoods and parking lots-turned-ice rinks, at least one positive thing resulted from the record-breaking snowfall that hit Albuquerque: Next time it happens, the city will be better prepared to handle it.

"This is definitely a learning experience for us," Mayor Martin Chavez said Thursday. "It's a process of improvement."

Though the mayor praised the city's handling of the severe weather, a task force of department heads and front-line employees will meet next week to discuss how to better battle any future, massive snowfall.

Ideas are already gathering.

For one, the city will look at buying snowplow blades that can attach to trucks when needed, Chavez said.

He also called for more coordination with agencies outside the city. He floated the idea of setting aside a lane of eastbound I-40 for local residents' use to separate them from the lines of vehicles just passing through.

City Chief Operating Officer Ed Adams mentioned truck-mounted spreaders for dispersing salt, sand or cinders on roads.

The city will also refine tactics it created on the fly in recent days as crews coped with up to 20 inches of heavy, wet snow, Adams said. One such tactic was the decision to remove snow using equipment and personnel from departments that normally don't have that duty.

That's an efficient use of resources, Adams said, and a useful approach in the future.

He wants more employees to get trained on driving snow-clearing vehicles, so if those truck-mountable plows arrive, the workers can hop in when needed.

Given the rarity of severe snow storms, he said buying truck-mountable devices makes more sense than the far more expensive option of increasing the city's fleet of 20 vehicles specifically designed for snow removal.

"Buying equipment that's going to sit there for 10 years and never get used doesn't make sense," he said, noting it was too soon to estimate any costs.

City government isn't alone in reviewing its preparedness for future storms.

The High Desert Residential Owners Association is looking at assembling an emergency-weather communication plan and developing a network of neighborhood residents with four-wheel-drive cars, said Paul Bosarge, community association manager the neighborhood.

The ideas were inspired by some parts of the area reporting 3 feet of snow, residents stuck in their homes and delays in trash and mail services, he said.

"It was very obvious the city was out there doing a great job, but was just very much overloaded," Bosarge said. "We're appreciative of that, but we have our own community, in a sense, and we're going to really have to do some significant long-range planning."

He praised the clearing of major roadways which, according to Adams, come to about 1,350 miles of street.

But side streets suffered, Bosarge noted, and he said the proposed truck-mounted plows and salt spreaders would be a good way to get more help to less-traveled roads.

For now, Adams said, the city is focused on keeping main roadways clear while tackling side streets.

A storm expected today doesn't have him too worried. Crews and equipment are ready, he said, and the National Weather Service is forecasting no more than a few inches of snow in the metro area.

Other agencies are bracing themselves, as the storm is expected to bring up to a foot of snow in the north, along with high winds.

The state Department of Transportation will have bulldozers and snow-blowers in strategic places along I-40, long stretches of which were closed for nearly two days during the last storm, and I-25.

Chavez said the state transportation department performed well, but could have handled the situation better, and he wants the city to meet with the state about closures.

Department of Transportation spokesman S.U. Mahesh said the interstate closures were made out of a concern for drivers' safety.

"We didn't expect this storm to be this huge and it was, and we did all we could in terms of cleaning up, but we couldn't keep up with the storm," Mahesh said. "The wisest thing was to shut them down until it was safe to go."

He noted the DOT would review its handling of the storm once its effects are dealt with.

The State Police would do the same, said spokesman Lt. Rick Anglada.

"We are studying the situation and trying to always improve on the way we handle things," he said.

State and local governments may not be financially alone when it comes to addressing problems caused by the snow.

Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday sought a federal disaster declaration that would help state and local governments pay for such things as snow removal or fence repairs and make low-cost loans available to eligible applicants.

On Thursday, members of the state's congressional delegation asked U.S. Agricultural Secretary Mike Johanns to expedite the Farm Service Agencies' emergency assessment.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.