PennDOT gearing up for winter storm
DUNMORE, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Preparations are underway for the winter storm that’s headed our way. No matter what Mother Nature throws at us, PennDOT crews are ready for action.
The PennDOT District 4 incident command center gives workers a bird’s eye view of the roads, helping them distribute information to drivers and agencies.
“We’re able to see where our plow trucks are, the different speed restrictions, tracking any of those restrictions that are put on roads, and then also just providing any support that our counties need,” stated Kaitlyn Drumheller, PennDOT District 4, Maintenace Engineer.
It was relatively quiet Monday morning, but that’s expected to change overnight.
“Our crews are already preparing by making sure we have drivers to cover all of our routes, our district staff is planning, following the weather forecast to ensure that we have proper callouts, and we’re anti-icing ahead of the storm,” explained Drumheller.
The storm is expected to impact travel during the morning commute on Tuesday, and Penndot is calling in more manpower from within the district and the Philadelphia area
“We’re bringing additional crews up and they’ll be paired together to plow both lanes of the interstate, and they’ll be primarily focused on Interstate 380 and Interstate 84. Those are the two areas we’re expecting the highest snowfall intensities,” said Jonathan Eboli, assistant district executive of maintenance at PennDOT District 4.
Drivers are encouraged to “know before you go” by staying up to date on the latest conditions on 511PA.
“If you do not need to go out, do not go out. If you do, just tie tips, giving yourself enough time, making sure you’re keeping enough distance between other vehicles in case anyone comes to a sudden stop, being alert, and making sure you clean your car off completely because if snow falls off it could injure anybody else, or ice, anything like that,” expressed Elizabeth Fabri, District 4 Safety Press Officer.
PennDOT and PTC urge caution in upcoming weather
At 3:00 a.m. Tuesday, PennDOT says a tier 4 restriction will be enacted for all of NEPA, which restricts all commercial vehicles from being on the interstates at that time.
PennDOT is activating the incident command center at midnight.
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