BOSTON (February 8, 2013)--Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is banning all traffic from roads after 4 p.m. Friday, when the worst of a powerful snowstorm is expected to be bearing down on New England.

It's believed to be the first traffic ban in the state since the blizzard of 1978.

Boston could get as much as three feet of snow, which would break the city's snowfall record of 27.6 inches.

A forecaster said the storm is the type that "doesn't come along every day."

Alan Dunham of the National Weather Service called it a "dangerous winter storm."

The heaviest snowfall is expected Friday night and into Saturday.

Wind gusts could reach 75 miles an hour.

In New York City, where 10 to 14 inches of snow could fall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said plows and 250,000 tons of salt are on standby.

The snow began falling Friday morning, and it's being blamed for a 19-car pileup in Cumberland, Maine.

Amtrak suspended its Northeast Corridor service between New York and Boston and airlines have canceled thousands of flights through Saturday.

One New Jersey town that was hard-hit by Superstorm Sandy issued a voluntary evacuation order for areas still recovering from the storm.