City Crews React to Snowfall

With about an inch and a half of snow falling on the region today, the Pittsburgh Public Works got another test run in road treatment in preparation for a larger storm. Bob Kaczorowski, Director of the Public works, says that today’s clean up went well, but the start of the snowfall wasn’t prime for clean-up efforts.

“The timing of the storm was such that coming in at 3:30 it was a little tough for us to get to everything in that timeframe before morning rush,” Kaczorowski says.

Public Works has developed a new plan at the urging of city council and the mayor that created emergency routes that supersede the primary and secondary routes of the city. In the event of a large unexpected snowfall the likes of which the region received last February.

While the plan hasn’t been utilized yet this season, Kaczorowski has voiced his confidence that in the case of an emergency snowstorm, the essential routes in and out of the city will be the first cleared and then closely monitored. According to Kaczorowski there are about 220 miles of snow emergency routes selected from the roughly 792 miles of primary routes that are designated as the emergency routes in case of a blizzard-like snowfall.

Kaczorowski suggests that drivers who do not need to leave their houses do just that in the event of a snowstorm. For those who have to get to work, he suggests leaving early and being patient with the likely delays caused from the snow clean-up and inevitable accidents.