Penndot On High Alert As Next Snowstorm Aims For Philadelphia Area
By Justin Udo
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. (CBS) -- With yet another heavy snowstorm bearing down on our area this weekend, the folks at Penndot (the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) are getting those snowplows ready and loading their trucks with salt.
Penndot spokesman Charles Metzger says the agency already has workers out, getting ready for the next snowstorm, which is predicted to hit us on Sunday evening.
"Through this weekend we are going to have crews continually filling potholes and hauling salt and moving it to different stockpiles," he tells KYW Newsradio.
Metzger says they will not be brining the roads on this go-round.
"The forecast is calling for rain to start on Sunday afternoon," he notes. "It will reduce the amount of brining we would be able to do, because of the rain would wash the brine away."
Crews may not be brining, but they are ready to lay salt down at a moment's notice.
"Trucks will go out and lay a layer of salt on the ground," Metzger says, "so when the snow does start it will prevent it from bonding to the roadway. Then our crews will just continue to plow throughout the rest of the storm."
Penndot is warning all drivers that if you happen to find yourself behind one of those large salt trucks, stay there, at a safe distance. He points out it's the safest place to be because you'll be driving on a freshly plowed, freshly salted surface.