Snow blanketed roadways during rush hour Friday morning, making many people’s commutes slow and slippy.
Thoughts and prayers to those commuting in the Pittsburgh area. Couple of inches of snow and my feed is filled with reports of bad roads & accidents. Pics from @DanielleDozier and @donniej76 pic.twitter.com/F2BVtVK3EX
— Snickers99 (@Snickers99poker) February 1, 2019
Many Pittsburghers took to Twitter, saying that the roads appeared to be completely untreated.
@CityPGH I've lived in Pittsburgh for 9 years. It shouldn't surprise me that even on a week with predicted cold weather/snow, the roads remain untreated for the morning commute. And yet it still is mind boggling.
— Patrick Varley (@pr_varley) February 1, 2019
Yet again, roads aren’t even touched in Mt. Washington. Cars are sliding all over the road & I’m waiting for there to be an accident hoping it’s not me. Why can’t we plan ahead for these weather conditions? #Pittsburgh
— Aliah (@AliahXtine) February 1, 2019
But a city spokesperson said public works trucks had been out spreading salt since 10 p.m. Thursday. The city's snow plow tracker showed that many roads were treated between midnight and noon Friday.
“The good news … is that the temperatures are up a little bit more than they were Wednesday and Thursday, so the salt and other de-icing materials should have no problem working,” said city spokesperson Tim McNulty. "The difficulty is just getting it down when there are lots of other vehicles out on the streets; that’s the problem with a snow event that happens during rush hour.”
McNulty acknowledged that road conditions were not good, and said Public Works is always looking to improve its strategy for keeping the roads safe during major snow events.
“It’s just one of those times that the timing was just brutal and we’re playing some catch up,” he said.
Snow is expected to continue falling through mid-afternoon Friday. Temperatures are forecasted to soar into the 50s by Sunday.
