Winter storm covers county with up to 2 feet
While Friday night's massive snowstorm might have been inconvenient for Saturday commuters, the timing was just about right for road-clearing crews.
Butler County got 1 to 2 feet of snow from late Friday night through Saturday morning.
"One of the things which worked out to our benefit is that there was not much traffic at the time of the storm," said John Sherman, equipment manager for Penn-DOT's Butler County maintenance garage.
Sherman said the facility has been running its full complement of 41 trucks since Friday night.
"Our equipment is holding up well, considering how hard they're working out there," he said.
"We've had the main roads pretty well taken care of. Once the snow lets off a bit, we can start concentrating on the secondary roads."
Advance warning of the storm allowed state crews time to prepare for the snow that was dumped on the region in less than 12 hours.
"We had the guys double-check the equipment and do any last-minute repairs throughout the week and make sure we were ready to go," Sherman said.
"We were stocking up on (road) salt at a few locations, as well, so we were prepared."
An operator at the Butler County Communications Center said weather-related incidents Friday night were "very minor," limited to a few stranded vehicles and fender-benders.
By 8 a.m. Saturday, the 911 center's Web site showed only four incidents in the county overnight: one vehicle accident and three collisions involving utility poles.Saxonburg officials issued a snow emergency this morning urging drivers to stay off borough roads so crews can clear them.All-night businesses varied in their patronage by location."We've been really slow," said Brendan Sheaffer, a manager at Eat 'n Park's Clearview Mall location, Saturday morning. It is open 24 hours."A few employees couldn't make it into work, either."But that lack of staff wasn't a problem at 2 a.m., when bar patrons typically flock to the restaurant in what employees call the "bar rush.""We didn't have one," Sheaffer said of any early morning patrons.Meanwhile, at the Sheetz store on Route 228 in Cranberry Township, business has been booming."We were pretty steady in here all night and have been busy this morning," store manager Carol Plunkard said Saturday.She said the store's proximity to several industrial parks and the post office likely explains the steady business."I don't know why some people are out on these roads, but people still have to get to work," Plunkard said.The state Department of Transportation has updated traffic and weather conditions and camera feeds of major roads on its travel information Web site, www.511pa.com.
