BORO WINTER
ROAD MAINTENANCE
R
For any given snow or ice event, our first priority is to make
sure that main arterial roads are safe and passable. Primary
As winter approaches, the Public Works Department is routes like New Texas, Leechburg, Saltsburg, 909, 380 and others
preparing for the winter maintenance season. By the
are critical to make sure that emergency response vehicles can
time the first snow arrives, all 18 of the Boro trucks dedicated to
safely and quickly travel through the Boro during an emergency
road salting and snow plowing will be outfitted and ready to roll. response. An ambulance or fire truck cannot get to your
The Public Works fleet utilizes a combination of two double-axle neighborhood or housing plan quickly if these roads are not
trucks, nine single-axles, five one-tons and two pickup trucks
passable. We do not begin to address neighborhood roads or
for winter maintenance. The Department is responsible for
streets until these main roads are safe to pass. Often during a
maintaining a little more than 300 lane miles of road for each
particular snow event, residents will contact us to report that,
snow event. The majority of these roads are Boro roads, however “they haven’t seen a plow truck on their street, and it’s been
we also perform winter maintenance on approximately 40 miles hours since the start of the snow.” This does indeed occur at
of State and County roads as well. We have contracts with the PA times and it is because we are purposely focused on opening up
Department of Transportation and Allegheny County for winter
the primary routes for safety reasons.
maintenance to provide these services for a fee. State roads
All of the Boro’s winter maintenance vehicles are equipment
maintained by the Boro include, New Texas, Old Leechburg,
with GPS tracking equipment and the number of passes,
Leechburg, Saltsburg and State Rt 909 (Coxcomb Hill Road). We
locations and speed of each vehicle is tracked and recorded.
also perform winter maintenance on Renton Road for the county. Resident concerns regarding the speed of a particular
The Boro spends roughly $1,000,000 annually on our
emergency vehicle or the number of passes on a particular street
winter maintenance program. The three largest expenses to
can be verified.
provide road “de-icing” and snow plowing are labor-$360,000,
To stay on top of the weather and forecasting, the Boro
equipment-$230,000 and de-icing materials-$340,000. In a
subscribes to a specialized weather service which provides
typical winter season-December through March-we will use
detailed reports specific to Plum Boro. We receive constant
about 4,500 tons of road salt and drivers will cover roughly
weather bulletins and updates containing detailed information
15,000 miles.
on the timing of the storm, intensity, temperature changes,
Beginning December 1st, of each year we staff two daily shifts, etc. so that we can be actively out treating roadways. Other
Monday through Friday. The shifts are from 6:00 am to 2:30 pm
information (news weather reports, weather channel apps, etc.)
and 2:30 pm to 11:00 pm. Drivers for the first shift are called in as are also used to help us to be proactive as possible. As you
early as 3:00 am for snow emergencies and drivers for the second know however, weather forecasts are not always accurate, and
shift are held over as late as 3:00 am. This enables us to provide
predictions are often wrong.
24-hour service Monday through Friday for school transportation
The timing of an ice or snow event also greatly impacts
safety and daily work commuters. It also allows for proper rest
or inhibits our ability to respond. Events that occur during
periods for the drivers and eliminates extended periods of
the morning or evening commute or as school busses are
driving for snow removal in excess of 12 hours for an individual
attempting to return the students home, increase route time by
driver.
as much as double. Routes that take three hours to complete
For salting and snow removal, the Boro is divided into 3
can take as much as five or six hours. Stuck vehicles, school
primary zones with three or four driver routes in each zone.
buses and even emergency vehicles often delay snow plows or
Driver routes are roughly 12-15 miles and each route requires
even prevent them from continuing. Boro staff, school district
a minimum of two passes (one for each lane direction); wider
personnel and first responders are in constant contact via radio
roads require three or four passes. A driver route typically takes
communications and snow plow vehicles are frequently called
3 hours to make the entire 30-mile trip.
off of their regular routes to assist with a stuck school bus or
Each of the zones are also assigned the same amount and
ambulance. All of this greatly impacts winter maintenance
type of equipment consisting of the various sizes and types of
response times and leads to high levels of frustration for
plow trucks. The larger trucks are dedicated to main snow routes commuters.
and smaller trucks are used on the smaller, less maneuverable
roadways.
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OAD SALTING & SNOW PLOWING
PLUM