EAST NORRITON >> We may not be ready to admit that the falling leaves and colorful mums will soon yield to snow and ice, but PennDOT is more than ready for the impending, if dreaded, winter.
Armed with plenty of statistics, Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Leslie Richards and PennDOT District 6 Executive Ken McClain hosted a news conference at the Swede Road maintenance facility Thursday morning to announce statewide and regional plans for attacking the upcoming winter season.
Richards noted that the agency has been preparing for this winter since the last one ended.
“We have $220 million budgeted for statewide winter operations,” she said. “We’re ready to deploy 4,800 on-the-road workers. We have more than 652,000 tons of salt stockpiled across the state of Pennsylvania. Keeping out roads as safe as possible in the winter is a team effort,” Richards said as a prelude to putting in a word for the department’s need for temporary workers over the winter season.
“We have job openings ranging from diesel mechanics to equipment operators. I encourage anyone interested in these opportunities to visit employment.pa.gov,” noted Richards, who then reminded motorists “that the department’s primary goal is to keep roads passable, not completely free of snow and ice. You will not see bare roads, but we want to make sure they are passable for everybody who needs to be out to get where they need to go safely. With each storm we will continue to treat roadways throughout the storm until the roadways are clear. With this in mind, we developed resources for the public to make travel decisions.”
With that, Richards announced the debut of www.511PA.com, where motorists can view a color-coded map of any stretch of the nearly 40,000 miles of state-maintained roadways and find out when it was last plowed. It’s all part of the latest enhancements made possible by PennDOT’s automated vehicle location (AVL) technology, which uses units in each of the more than 2,200 department-owned and rented plow trucks to send a cellular signal showing truck locations.
The site also provides other amenities, such as traffic delay warnings, traffic speed information, weather forecasts and access to more than 850 traffic cameras.
“We always look for new public service enhancements that can help our traveling public,” Richards said, adding that the AVL tool is part of Gov. Tom Wolfe’s GO-TIME initiative that “maximizes efficiency, modernizes state government operations and provides the highest quality services. I also encourage motorists to check 511PA.com whenever they travel.”
Richards encouraged drivers to take time to prepare a winter emergency kit for their vehicles before the first storm hits.
“This kit should include items such as nonperishable food, water, first aid supplies, warm clothes, a blanket and a small shovel. Remember to include items that may be necessary for your family, such as baby and pet supplies and medication. With the right preparations I hope that we all get home safely every day this winter season,” she said.
Referring to the pink hard hats worn by himself and his PennDOT colleagues, McClain said the headgear was in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and explained that the agency was in the midst of a charitable drive to fight the disease.
“We’ve had relatively mild winters over the last few seasons, but we at PennDOT are taking nothing for granted, especially given how unpredictable the weather can be at times,” he said. “Here at Southeastern Pennsylvania PennDOT is ready for winter whenever and however it may arise.”
McClain explained that $27.6 million had been budgeted for winter maintenance operations in District 6, which includes Montgomery, Chester, Bucks, Delaware and Philadelphia counties, encompassing 11,387 snow miles.
Figures provided by PennDOT indicated that $22.4 million had been spent on winter operations in District 6 last winter.
“In the Philadelphia region we have agreements with 95 different municipalities,” McClain said, noting that a snow blower parked nearby was capable of moving 1,200 tons of snow in an hour.
“The snow blower is used in areas where drifting occurs during major storms or tight, congested areas where sound walls or retaining walls might make it impossible to push snow onto travel lanes,” he said, noting that an average plow truck route covers 40 miles.
“Depending on the intensity of the storm, plow trucks plow routes on Interstates may take two to two and a half hours to clear. Plow routes on other major routes take two to three hours to return to their starting point.”
McClain pointed out common sense methods of staying safer during winter driving, such as clearing windshields and vehicles of snow and ice before taking to the road.
“Under Pennsylvania law, when snow or ice is dislodged or falls from a moving vehicle and strikes another vehicle or pedestrian, the operator of that vehicle is subject to a $200 or $1,000 fine,” McClain said.
He also reminded property owners that it is illegal to push snow from a driveway onto a state road.
Additional safety tips included wearing seat belts at all times, keeping tires properly inflated, turning on headlights (state law during rain or snow) and maintaining twice the normal following distance from the car in front of you.
“Stay at least six car lengths behind a snow plow,” McClain said. “We’ve got a group of dedicated state workers who work tirelessly and get out of their beds when everybody else is safe and comfortable at 2 o’clock in the morning to go out and plow snow. For their safety and the safety of yourself please do not try and pass them.”
For more information, visit www.PennDOT.gov/winter.
