Pittsburgh-area crews prepare for heavy snow during morning commute
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It's the second time this week we are having snow during a morning commute.
With tomorrow being Friday, many people already work from home. That should mean less cars on the road, making it easier for trucks to be able to plow the roads.
Friday morning could look a lot like Tuesday morning.
"Some people like it. I don't like it. Too cold for me," Ercole Troiani said.
Public works crews are asking that if you can work from home to please do so. Less traffic means an easier time getting the roads clear.
"Some people are working from home so that will help us clear the roads sooner. Appreciate everybody's patience until we get the roads clear," Allegheny County Public Works Director Stephen Shanley said.
Some of the salt still on the roads will act as pretreatment.
"So that does make our jobs a little bit easier, as far as many of the roads are technically currently pretreated just with the residual materials that are already out there," PennDOT District 10 Community Relations Coordinator Tina Gibbs said.
- RELATED: How much snow will Pittsburgh get? Here are the estimates and timing for Friday's winter storm
Shanley added that trucks will be on the roads all night and into Friday morning.
Allegheny County Public Works is not pretreating roads but will have trucks on standby. PennDOT will pretreat where needed. Pittsburgh Public Works will hit hills and other hazardous areas.
"I've got some friends that have early flights tomorrow morning and I'm a little worried for them. A good friend of mine might be late for a wedding rehearsal," Nathan Schuetz of Maryland said.
The city says they have a "significant" amount of their trucks in maintenance but plan to have a full fleet with the help of rentals. They want to have city streets cleared within 18 hours of when the snow stops. County Public Works routes are about 2-3 hours per truck and PennDOT is about 3-4 hours.
"If I had to be on the roads, I would just be as careful as possible," Schuetz said.
If you do have to be out, you're asked to be about 3-6 car lengths from any trucks, and don't pass them. If their plow hits an edge, the truck could shimmy and then become a hazard.
"It's always challenging when snowfall happens right at rush hour. It's unfortunate, we can't control the timing of it, we just have to respond to it," Pittsburgh Public Works Director Chris Hornstein said.
If you live in the city, you're asked to park your car in a way to not block the road. Trash will still come on schedule but will wait for crews to clear streets.
If you need to see who is responsible for clearing your street, here is a helpful link.
