After signing a state of emergency declaration for Massachusetts due to winter storm Nemo, the state’s Governor Deval Patrick issued an executive order banning motor vehicle travel throughout the state. The ban began at 4:00 pm EST on Friday (Feb. 8) and remains in effect until further notice.

The order says all motorists must be off the roads except for public safety and public works workers; government officials conducting official business; utility workers; health care workers who must travel to provide essential services; and news media.

The order also allows travel for other drivers if they are conducting business operations needed to maintain and deliver critical private-sector services, including energy, fuel supplies, services such as those for financial systems and for the delivery of critical commodities, or to support business operations that provide critical services to the public (including gasoline stations, food stores, and hardware stores). The order says that motorists must use their best judgement to determine whether they can travel based on the conditions noted in the travel ban.

The order goes on to say that the state has asked law enforcement to interpret the exceptions broadly in order to limit traffic as much as possible while maintaining critical services.

You can read the executive order here.

You can also receive updates via social media on Twitter by searching for the hash tag #MAStorm.

Connecticut's governor also issued a travel ban, which you can read about here.

Rhode Island's Governor issued travel restrictions on specific routes, which you can read here.

Updated 2/8/2013, 2:23 pm, with information about other travel bans.