Wheeling Residents Wake Up to Heavy Blanket of Snow
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WHEELING -- Road crews were extremely busy trying to keep up with plowing local roadways and clearing sidewalks throughout Tuesday, heavy snow blanketed the Upper Ohio Valley.
Public Works Director Russell "Rusty" Jebbia said the city of Wheeling is currently doing fine with salt and cinder supplies. The city got an additional 140 tons delivered to the city's salt shed in Claytor just last week.
"So we're in good shape," Jebbia said of Wheeling's salt supply. He said nearly a dozen city road crews began treating area roadways around 3 a.m., and other city crews worked on clearing city sidewalks and plaza areas throughout the day.
Jebbia said when the city is hit with a heavy snowfall it pulls crews from other departments to assist with snow removal.
"Like our construction crews, they're either driving trucks or running equipment," Jebbia commented. "So when it snows like this we pull everybody off (other duties) and put them on snow duty."
He said Tuesday's precipitation brought the common maintenance issues that usually come along with every major snowfall.
"We've had our share already, just listening to the radio, of various things going down -- spreader motors, and we had a truck loose a front drive shaft or something -- so they're busy," Jebbia added.
Tony Clark, West Virginia Division of Highways District 6 Engineer said state crews were also busy treating area highways and secondary roads beginning as early as Monday evening.
"I know we had some issues," Clark explained. "When we get this amount of snow, we have to stay on those main routes."
Clark said while some Northern Panhandle counties have a little lower than normal supply of salt, they continue to order more supplies on a regular basis.
"I know Ohio County specifically received some (salt) yesterday," he said. "So it's on order and they receive deliveries usually daily in the middle of a storm. We don't just wait until we're completely out."
Clark said that, depending on the route, some routes do receive a heavier mixture of cinders than salt at times just to help manage their salt inventory.
He added there may be as many as a dozen crews out treating area roads in Ohio County at any given time during a heavy snow or ice storm. He said the DOH has about six crews per shift specifically dedicated to treating I-70 and I-470 and U.S. 250. In Ohio County.
And it looks like their busy days might not be ending soon. More snow is in the forecast, with some outlets predicting another inch or more between Wednesday and Friday.