Preparations underway for the start of the winter snow season

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Crews in Greensburg spent the day Tuesday working to fit salt spreaders on several of their trucks, getting ready for some potential snowfall to end the week.

“So, we’re ready if we do get a couple inches of snow, even an inch,” said Tom Bell, Greensburg Public Works director and fire chief. “We’re also prepping our sidewalk machine, getting it ready because we cover more than a mile and half of sidewalks in the City of Greensburg.”

This is actually a little later than the city’s public works department normally gets ready for the winter season. They usually start prepping on Veterans Day. But with the potential for snow this week, they’re ready to go.

“I always prepare for the worst, no doubt about it,” Bell said. “So I want to make sure that we’re prepared for anything that comes along.”

The city says it has 1,400 tons of salt for the winter, and will be ready to plow and treat sidewalks as needed. With on-and-off rain showers, they won’t be doing any pretreating of roads this week. But they’ll be staffed and ready if snow starts sticking.

“They’re ready to go at a moment’s notice, if we have to go out early in the morning or the course of the day, we have plenty of drivers and laborers, and we’ll take care of things no matter what time it happens,” Bell told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek.

“This is something we prepare for all year round,” said Crispin Havener, with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

The Turnpike Commission is also ready for potential snowfall, especially in the mountains.

They said they’re expecting snow to possibly impact travel between the New Stanton and Bedford exits.

“We will have our crews positioned and ready where we see the forecast tells us that we need to have our crews set up,” Havener said.

If you’re planning to be driving across the state, especially through the mountains, the turnpike has one tip.

“Just be aware of the changing weather conditions as you’re going through,” Havener said.

The PA Turnpike Commission says if you need assistance after a crash on the turnpike to call *11

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