South Hills has plenty of salt
The bad weather is here, but South Hills municipalities say they have plenty of road salt and are ready to handle whatever Mother Nature throws at them.
“We’re full to the bin,” said Michael Silvesteri, manager of Peters Township, adding that the township has made it a point to use multiple road salt providers to keep from running out. It is the same situation in both Bethel Park and Mt. Lebanon, officials said – there is plenty of road salt for the roads.
“We received a huge shipment not too long ago that would be adequate as I understand,” said Susan Morgans, a Mt. Lebanon spokeswoman.
George Kostelic, Upper St. Clair’s public works director, said the township is fully stocked with 5,500 tons of salt on hand.
“I think we are going to be in very good shape,” he said.
Much of the Greater Pittsburgh area is under a winter weather advisory, according to the National Weather Service. Winter conditions are anticipated all week.
Last winter, communities throughout Western Pennsylvania struggled to keep up with demand for road salt because of continuous snow falls coupled with icy conditions that made it tough for deliveries to get through. That, in turn, made it difficult for communities to have enough salt on hand to adequately treat the region’s roads. Some municipalities were forced to add more anti-skid material – a mixture of small stones and sand – into their salt supply. They are hopeful they planned ahead enough and have plenty of salt on hand.
Normally, Peters, for example, uses about 4,000 tons of salt each winter to treat its 110 miles of township roads and 19 miles of state roads. Last winter, however, Peters used 6,000 tons of salt to treat roads, Silvestri said. Peters spends roughly $350,000 each year on road salt.
The state is ready, too.
“We’re fully stocked with salt,” said Jay Ofsanik, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation District 12, which covers 3,000 miles of roads in Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland counties.
Ofsanik said the district has 200 plows and plans to have them staffed by drivers – if need be – 24 hours a day.
Peters will have 10 township vehicles on the road, said Silvestri, adding that the township depends on its police department to keep informed of road conditions. Plans usually call for six hours of plowing roads and followed up by anywhere from three to three and a half hours of salting, he said.
“Our goal is to keep the township roads completely treated,” Silvestri said.