Jan 17, 2022 4 min read

Monessen Mayor Ron Moser said crews were out early Monday morning working on the city’s roadways.

“It’s going OK,” he said. “We’re plowing roads and we’re keeping things going.”

Moser added that the city’s salt supply was starting to run a little low, but more has been ordered and is expected to arrive today. He said there was enough on hand to handle all necessary duties on Monday.

“We’ve got salt to take care of what we’ve got going on right now,” Moser said Monday morning. 

Moser did say garbage collection would be delayed by one day as a result of the storm.

He also suggested city residents move their cars off of the main roads to make it easier for the snowplows to make it through to clean the roads. 

“Put them in the driveway, if at all possible,” Moser said. “Don’t block roads or alleys. They will be taking care of both of those. They take care of the main roads first, then the side streets, then the alleys. Any vehicles parked on the road become a problem and they have to go around them and that doesn’t clean the road very well.”

Donora Mayor Don Pavelko said he took a ride around the borough Monday and the streets were in good shape.

Seven trucks were in service working to clean borough streets. Pavelko said crews began working Sunday and finally took a break at about noon Monday after 20 hours of cleaning roadways. He said they were to be back at it after a short break.

“Everything is under control as well as can be,” Pavelko said. “The street department has the roads pretty much clear. I’ve talked to some people, and everybody seemed pretty happy with the condition of the roads. We still have some snow-covered roads. The main streets are open. All of the main drags are open and in very good shape.”

With Monday being Martin Luther King Day, a number of businesses already were scheduled to be closed.

“That reduced traffic tremendously,” Moser said. “Not a lot of businesses are open. We’re down on traffic from what we normally see.”   

“Just driving through town, I noticed business as usual,” Pavelko added. 

Melissa Maczko, acting safety press officer for PennDOT District 12, said crews were working 12-hour shifts to treat roadways. Main roads are tended to first, followed by secondary roadways.

“Our crews have been out since (Sunday) at noon and will continue to be out until the roads are clear,” she said, adding that snow drifts and increasing winds were having an effect on the crews Monday. “We are out in full force. We are working as hard as we can to get all of the roads and keep them remaining passable.” 

PennDOT District 12 covers Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland counties.

The severity of the storm forced PennDOT to temporarily reduce the speed limit on several roadways in the region such as Interstate 70 in Washington and Westmoreland counties and Interstate 79 in Greene and Washington counties. 

PennDOT is urging motorists to avoid unnecessary travel but those who must head out will see speeds reduced to 45 mph on those highways, with commercial vehicles restricted to the right lane only. 

As of 2:30 p.m. Monday, West Penn Power was reporting just 22 outages in Washington County – all in Centerville – and none in Greene or Fayette counties. 

However, Todd Meyers, West Penn Power spokesman, said the situation was being monitored.

“This has not caused us any big trouble yet,” Meyers said Monday afternoon. “We’re prepared. We’ve been prepared. Our line crews are on call. So are our forestry crews. We have a plan in place. It’s not just hoping nothing happens.”