WAYNESBURG - Winter may not have yet delivered a knockout blizzard. But, numerous little storms that have dropped a few inches of snow here and there have kept the plow trucks quite busy in Greene County.
Municipalities still have plenty of salt and cinders to last the rest of the winter, according to the township and borough officials contacted Wednesday. However, the street departments have used a bit more anti-skid materials than in previous winters.
"It's mainly because of these little nuisance snows. They require just as much material as the big snows," said Franklin Township Supervisor Corbly Orndorff.
Franklin Township earmarks money in the budget to purchase 500 tons of salt. During most recent winters, the township has bought about 250 tons, but it is already at 300 tons this year.
Waynesburg Borough has used between 25 and 100 tons more salt this year than last winter. But, it still has plenty of materials in reserve.
Valerie Petersen, spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation District 12, called this season a "materials winter." Because of the rather small snowfalls, PennDOT workers do not have to plow the roads very much, but they still have to lay anti-skid materials to keep the road surfaces from getting too slippery, she said.
"We are very comfortable with our supplies. We should have no problems through the rest of the winter," Petersen said.
Cumberland Township uses more cinders than salt. Supervisor Bill Nicholson did not know exactly how much material the township has used, but he said the winter weather has kept workers busy.
"We've had cold temperatures along with that snow, so we've been out a lot," Nicholson said.
He said Cumberland Township tackles the main roads first and pays special attention to the bus routes so that those areas are clear as soon as possible.
Doug Grim, supervisor for Richhill Township, said his township stopped plowing state-owned roads this year so it is difficult to compare the amount of cinders used with previous years. The state previously paid Richhill to plow its roads but now PennDOT does that itself.