PennDOT Says Hundreds Of Trucks Are Standing By To Plow Next Round Of Snow
By Mark Abrams
CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. (CBS) -- Even though President's Day is a state and federal holiday, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation managers were on the job today, planning their ground strategy to handle the approaching snowstorm.
About 3-6 inches are expected for the Philadelphia area.
PennDOT's Gene Blaum says you won't be seeing trucks out on the highways today spreading salt-brine solution or taking other preparations because there's plenty of salt-residue out there from the weekend storm work.
But, Blaum says, managers will have equipment in position and ready to roll once the storm starts dumping snow on the region later tonight.
"I expect that we'll be using our full complement of state equipment and many of our contractors," he told KYW Newsradio. "So I would expect that we'll be in the 300 to 400 range for number of trucks that will be on the highways during the overnight hours, into Tuesday morning."
Blaum says PennDOT has some 70,000 tons of salt on hand, more than enough to handle this storm.
And he says the forecast, ranging from three to six inches in the Philadelphia region, mean this will be a plowing operation.
Blaum adds, however, that if temperatures stay in the teens during the storm, the effectiveness of the salt diminishes. He says crews may have to add other "anti-skid" materials, such as tiny stones, to the salt mixture laid out by the trucks on the highways.