Philly road conditions: major streets mostly cleared, but will city treat side streets?
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The snow has stopped. But now, bitter cold is settling in. And that means wet streets are now icy in many spots.
Out in Philadelphia's Manayunk neighborhood, the main streets had been plowed and salted and were mostly clear.
But with a deep freeze overnight and single-digit wind chills expected through the day Saturday, some side streets still had a layer of ice.
"We treated about 75% of all roads in the city of Philadelphia. Primary, secondary and what we call tertiary, those residential small side streets," Philadelphia Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams said in a news conference Friday afternoon. Since then, the city has likely made more progress clearing off side streets.
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"There's definitely some side streets that need some improvement but as an overall, I'd say the main roads are pretty clear," Center City resident Jessie Smith said.
Residents parked on Jamestown Avenue, where we camped out during our morning newscast, will likely wake up with some work to do, shoveling their car out of the spot with this ice and snow on the street.
A lot of drivers still hadn't dug their vehicles out, so they'll have some serious scraping to do.
If you're heading out, it could still be treacherous in some spots as the city is still trying to get some of these side streets plowed. We saw one driver in a Toyota SUV taking it nice and slow coming down this steep Manayunk hill.
City plowing your street is not guaranteed
According to the Streets Department website, the city does not have to plow every single street if less than five inches of snow falls. And according to the snow totals from Philadelphia International Airport, we fell just shy of that, at 4.6 inches.
So there's a chance digging out some of these side streets may end up falling entirely on the residents.
However, another National Weather Service spotter in West Philadelphia reported 5.9 inches of snow.
Here's what the city website says they'll do if less than five inches of snow falls:
- Salt and plow:
- Primary and secondary streets
- Residential streets on hills
- One lane of high elevation residential streets
- Snow lifting/melting operations proceed in central business district
We've reached out to the city for more on whether they plan to plow every street as a result of this storm. We'll update you if we hear back.
