Residents Upset As Ford City Roads Remain Virtual Ice Rink
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The roads in and around Pittsburgh are mostly clear of ice now, but that's not the case well to the north.
Ford City in Armstrong County is a virtual ice rink. The streets are glistening and residents are angry.
KDKA's John Shumway Reports:
Upset would be a good description of the people of Ford City over the condition of their streets.
"My granddaughter has fallen and both of my grandsons," said Joanne Shernock, a Ford City resident.
"They are pitiful," added Terry Chvala, also of Ford City. "I come up to this intersection this morning, and if I had not have been going slow, a car coming down this way slid right through the intersection. They're just total ice."
It's not that the city plow trucks haven't been out there when the snow was flying, they have, but the limited salt supply mixed with sand has not been effective in breaking up the ice."
You can't give up safety, there's too many older people in this town, if they fall they could be in the hospital for a while," said Ford City's Rich Kijowski.
The town's salt bin is virtually empty and the borough manager says a supplier kept putting Ford City off over and over, so canceled the purchase.
"I managed to work it out with another company and we're going to have salt delivered tomorrow morning and more by the end of the week. So we're going to continue to salt," said Eden Ratliff, the borough manager.
That shipment of 25 tons is coming from Delaware and will be spread in the morning.
"It's not going to help that much except for a little bit of traction," said Kim Bish, of Ford City. "It's not going to melt the ice… it's just packed and packed from weeks."
The icy roads caused numerous problems overnight in the City of Pittsburgh.
A Public Works driver had to be taken to the hospital after his salt truck hit a patch of ice and flipped.
Several streets were also shut down because of the ice.
KDKA's Christine D'Antonio Reports:
One problem arose when a water main broke on Rialto Street in Troy Hill.
As the sun rose this morning, so did residents in Troy Hill.
Frank Guenther and others woke up to no water because of the line break.
"Last night, I [saw] police cars and a service truck up here on Rialto all the way up towards the end by the stop sign. But, I couldn't figure out what was going on," he said.
The water that seeped out from the break quickly froze, which shut down the notoriously steep shortcut to Route 28.
"It even happens in the summer, but with winter, the last few years it's been closed. I believe it only opened back up in maybe May, but it's been closed the last few years. I've been stuck on it before," Joe Lazewski said.
Service is expected to be restored by Tuesday afternoon.
In Elliot, a Pittsburgh Public Works driver found himself stuck too after his salt truck hit a patch of ice and flipped onto its side.
The driver was there to salt the roads because of reports of icy streets. He crashed while trying to avoid hitting a woman's house.
He had to be cut out of the truck and was taken to the hospital, but is expected to be okay.
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