AccuWeather hears from PennDOT about how their crews are working to clear massive amounts of snow that have already fallen in early winter.
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00:00Jill, Harry is district press officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
00:06Thank you so much for joining us, Jill.
00:08We want to get right down to it.
00:09We know these storms have been impactful.
00:12How have these past two weeks been?
00:15How have you been impacted?
00:17Well, they've been very challenging for our crews.
00:20They've been working almost nonstop since the snow started there on Thanksgiving.
00:24So we're ready for a little bit of a break, but they're still out there maintaining the
00:28roads as well as you can expect.
00:31And Jill, I know that last winter we had much below average snow in northwest Pennsylvania.
00:35This year, we're off to a tremendous start in the opposite direction.
00:40Does an early blast early on like this change the way you approach the season's planning?
00:45Is there a surplus in salt availability or how's that impacted?
00:51We start our planning for winter in the middle of the summer.
00:54So we already had a lot of the things that we needed in place ready to go well before
00:58Thanksgiving came around.
01:01Part of that really comprehensive planning is how can we shift folks when we need to
01:05when these lake effect storms hit.
01:07So when Thanksgiving storm hit, and again here when we're experiencing this second wave
01:12of snow, we already had all of those plans in place for how we can shift folks around
01:17both within the region and throughout the state to help combat this really large amount
01:22of snow that's come into our area.
01:25You know, on that same point, you know, these drivers during these events, this is early
01:31still season.
01:32Were we seeing any higher numbers when it came to impacts there on the highways?
01:38What are some safety tips that you want them to remember?
01:43Well when it comes to driving in winter weather, I think a lot of Erie County residents are
01:47pretty much experts.
01:48They understand what it takes to navigate the roads and when not to drive.
01:52So that is a really important thing for us because a lot of them know when these lake
01:57effects come in that they need to just stay at home, reschedule things or postpone heading
02:02out to certain events.
02:03So that's been very helpful to us.
02:06For those who do have to go out, you know, we're always telling them make sure you're
02:10giving yourself extra time and extra space.
02:13So you know, make sure that you're staying further back away from folks and you're giving
02:17yourself a lot of time to get there because you're probably going to have to drive a lot
02:20slower than you would on a summer day.
02:22That's very good advice there Jill.
02:24Thanks for sharing that and we appreciate you making time for us here during a busy
02:28stretch there for PennDOT.
02:30Jill Harry, District Press Officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
02:33in Northwest Pennsylvania there in Oil City, Venango County.
02:36Thanks again Jill.
02:37Yep, thanks for having us.
02:39Alright.