City of Jeannette issues state of emergency due to a lack of road salt
JEANNETTE, Pa. (KDKA) - The weather and a shortage of road salt have prompted the City of Jeannette to declare a state of emergency. The mayor tells KDKA-TV they haven't had enough salt to adequately treat roads for a few days and conditions are getting dangerous.
The mayor of Jeannette said that they have been virtually out of salt since Saturday and the city manager added that they have been trying to get more for weeks.
This led to city leaders saying they had no choice but to declare a state of emergency due to the dangerous conditions of the roads and a lack of salt.
On Wylie Avenue, residents were frustrated.
"It's never been like this," said Martina Papa. "It was a mess this morning, I was sliding up and that, so I put my car in four-wheel drive to go up. [It was very frustrating] because I had to go to work."
"It makes sense how the roads have been," added Farron Faltz. "I was curious why they were so bad, why they weren't being treated."
Jeannette City Manager Ethan Keedy said they've gotten to a point where they are extremely, dangerously low on salt.
"Discussing with other surrounding municipalities, this is something a lot of them are facing right now," he said.
Keedy said the city's hands are tied and this is a state contract through Costars, which guarantees pricing. He said on January 6 and three times after, they tried to order 500 tons of slat but so far they've only received 100 tons.
"The guys are out plowing," he said. "They are pushing the snow back as quickly as possible, trying to get the roads cleared, and as soon as the salt comes in, we are going to get salt on the ground. The unfortunate part with the weather, temperatures outside, the salt is not going to work as we lay it because the cold air is not going to activate the salt."
The mayor's emergency order will allow the city to buy salt from other vendors and Keedy has already contacted one and hopes to get a delivery soon.
We reached out to Compass Minerals for comment as they have the salt contract for Westmoreland County and some surrounding counties.
They provided KDKA-TV with the following statement:
"Safely meeting the needs of our customers is of paramount importance to Compass Minerals. Due to the recent winter activity across the Commonwealth, salt volume requests over a short period of time have been significant. We have responded by distributing an average of more than 5,000 tons of salt daily over the past week in partnership with the appropriate state agencies and in service of numerous local municipalities. We understand the urgency of these deliveries and will continue to leverage our stable inventory and extensive depot and vendor networks to expedite additional salt shipments to help keep roadways safe."
The city manager said they pay $89 for a ton of salt and it will cost about twice as much from an outside vendor.