Ice, Snow Close Parkway West On Black Friday Morning
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Many people woke up to slick, snow-covered roads Friday morning and it caught them off-guard, especially on the Parkway West, which was eventually shut down for hours.
"Unfortunately, it's the weather conditions, but I think it's a shame the roads were not prepared," said Charlotte Sarles.
Officials say the Parkway had been covered with ice and snow since about 4:30 a.m.
For three-and-a-half hours, motorists had horror stories.
Drivers were parked on the road unable the move, some describing the roadway as a "sheet of ice."
At least two accidents were reported along the Parkway, one of which was a rollover accident near the entrance of the tunnel.
Early Friday morning, police worked to close off the ramps to the Parkway and move cars off the road.
Traffic was reportedly backed up to Carnegie.
Many other Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh-area roads were also plagued by ice Friday morning, including Routes 51, 28, 65 and 885.
Sections of those roads also had to be shut down and there were several accidents.
City officials say trucks were out overnight salting bridges and hilly streets.
KDKA's Harold Hayes: "Was it unexpected?"
City Operations Officer Guy Costa: "No, we knew it was going to snow. We just didn't know when. We had crews out overnight. They were maintaining the bridges and the main roads and they did do that overnight."
"It was just the quickness of the snow, the blast that came in, and the South Hills neighborhoods being the detour," said Costa, "but other sections of the city, we saw a half inch of snow, and in some parts, we saw three inches, so it varied on location. But the big thing that hurt us was once the snow melted, the cars driving over it, it got wet then it froze over immediately, causing icy conditions."
However, some drivers thought the snow could have been handled better.
"It's dangerous, and I would like to be treated like the rest of the citizens of Pittsburgh and get some attention here," said Jeanne McMullen, of Lincoln Place.
"I saw the PennDOT truck just sitting up on Greentree and I just looked at them, like really, you see this mess? They could have done a lot more than they have done," said Zanae Johnson.
They also say they had some trouble getting to roads in the West End because of the spike in traffic due to the closure of the Parkway West.
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