How are the roads around Pittsburgh? Checking the conditions after massive snowstorm
After a storm dumped about a foot of snow across the Pittsburgh area, PennDOT said main roads are looking good, though there's still some work to do on secondary streets.
Lori Musto with PennDOT said the state's crews have gotten to every road, but now the task turns to "the fine details of cleaning them up."
"The issue right now is salt's not very effective because it's so cold," Musto said. "So even once you plow it, you get that thin layer of snow that doesn't come up, and that's still staying on some of the secondaries."
The bitter cold is also making cleanup more difficult. Musto said salt loses its effectiveness around 15 degrees.
"A lot of times, we need the traffic to help generate that heat," Musto said. "But it just takes a lot longer for it to work, so a lot more salt usage. We do have some calcium we could add that does help, but the ice just doesn't want to break for us."
If you do need to go out, Musto said to use caution and watch out for black ice.
It's a similar story for roads across western Pennsylvania.
Around Pittsburgh's South Hills, main roads were in good shape, but side roads were a problem. Some side streets had a cleared path, but others didn't appear to have been touched. Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O'Connor declared a state of emergency Monday morning, saying 37 of the city's 95 plows are in the repair garage.
In Beaver County, which saw some of the highest totals, Route 65 was clear. Eleventh Street was clean in Ambridge, but there were some issues with secondary streets.
"We are out," Musto said about PennDOT. "We'll be out the rest of the evening, all through the night, all through tomorrow, we'll continue cleanup until everything is completely clean."