PennDOT By the Seasons: Regional Winter Operations

​Uniontown, PA – As the winter season continues, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) today shared reminders of public-information resources and outlined its winter operations District 12, covering Fayette, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. 

Preparations for winter begin during the summer season. PennDOT District 12's responsibility includes 7,298 snow-lane miles with an average of 30 inches in the lowlands and 89 inches in the highlands of annual snowfall. Preparation includes ordering and receiving winter materials to make sure the 30 stockpiles are adequately stocked. This past winter District 12 used 40,824 tons of anti-skid; 735,092 gallons of salt brine; and 69,320 tons of salt.

In addition, there are 940 miles of municipal winter agreements throughout the counties. The district also has snowplow rental contracts to supplement the operations. These municipal agreements and rental contracts contribute to ensuring a successful winter season.  

"It takes hard work, dedication, and teamwork to plan for and provide excellent winter service.  Our employees rise to meet this challenge storm after storm and year after year with the goal of making our roads passable during winter weather. We do this while focusing on the safety of our employees and the traveling public," said Assistant District Executive for Maintenance Robb Dean. 

District 12 employs 306 permanent operators and 30 permanent mechanics. Winter requires additional temporary operators and mechanics. Mechanics have the responsibility of maintaining 198 plow trucks; 18 anti-icing trucks; 10 graders; and 41 loaders.

The department approaches winter weather with various tools and processes before, during, and after storms.

Before the Storm:

• PennDOT collaborates with department and district staff, weather experts and officials from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and State Police to discuss upcoming weather and discuss preparations or sharing resources as needed.

• PennDOT monitors weather forecasts to gauge when to call crews into action.

• Department crews may pretreat with salt brine, essentially a mix of water and salt, from the backs of anti-icing trucks before frozen precipitation starts to fall.

• Salt brine is NOT a silver bullet, and it isn't appropriate for every storm, but when it's used it helps prevent precipitation from bonding to the road and gives the department a jump start on removing ice and snow.

• Crews generally will not pretreat with salt brine when a storm is forecast to start as rain (rain will wash the material away) or when there is enough salt residue from a previous storm.

• PennDOT may stage plows along major routes and interstates so they can quickly begin treating the roadway when precipitation begins.

During the Storm:

• While snow is falling, roads will NOT be free of ice and snow.  If snow is falling at 1 inch per hour, for example, and a truck takes three hours to return to the start of its route, 3 inches of snow has fallen.

• Whether an operator is plowing snow from a roadway depends on the depth or heaviness of snow or slush, severity of the storm and in what stage of the storm the truck is being operated.

• Operators will plow and spread salt and antiskid along major highways first before moving to the less-traveled roads.

• Plow operators use technology in their trucks to monitor air temperature and road temperature so they can tailor their road treatments to current conditions.

• Winter operations include the removal of snow and ice, as well as applying deicing materials on all state highways and bridges. To prevent ice from building up on the road surface, PennDOT trucks spread a mixture of salt to melt the ice and small stones called anti-skid to provide traction. In some rural areas, PennDOT will limit salt and increase the amount of anti-skid spread over the road surface because salt depends on a certain amount of traffic to be fully effective.

• The major factors that determine what material will be used on a roadway are temperature and traffic. Salt also isn't a silver bullet; it becomes less effective at lower temperatures.

After the Storm:

• PennDOT reviews and addresses roadway concerns and equipment issues that occurred during the storm.

• Stockpiles are evaluated for material usage.

• Crews will continue to be on alert for the next storm while performing planned maintenance activities.    

 Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional Twitter alerts.

Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Fayette, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland counties at PennDOT District 12.

Information about infrastructure in District 12, including completed work and significant projects, is available at District 12 Results. Find PennDOT's planned and active construction projects at PennDOT Projects.

Follow PennDOT on Twitter and like the department on Facebook and Instagram.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Melissa Maczko, 724-439-7135 or mmaczko@pa.gov

                                    Toni Hartley, 724-425-3018 or tohartley@pa.gov

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