Murrysville reminds residents: Don’t blow snow back onto plowed roads
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Murrysville public works crews have more than 150 miles of roads to plow and salt during a winter storm like the one that hit Western Pennsylvania earlier this week.
And the last thing public works head Bill Paiano wants is his employees having to back-track due to residents blowing snow back onto the road.
“I followed one of my trucks around on Monday, and I was truly amazed as we drove around, that once we passed people, they would just start blowing snow back into the middle of the street,” Paiano said. “We just had complaints of it constantly.”
Murrysville Chief Administrator Jim Morrison said public works crews encountered multiples instances in the Heritage Estates and Murry Woods neighborhoods.
“That’s an ordinance violation,” Morrison said. “It’s a $300 fine, and it will be enforced.”
In addition to wasting fuel, time and salt, Paiano said, it’s also dangerous.
“If our driver thinks the road is done, and people are throwing snow back out there, it can freeze and, at zero temperature, it can turn into some bad ice.”
Paiano said that mostly, it was just disheartening to see.
“We had guys who worked 12-, 14-hours shifts, and it’s not something they should have to deal with,” he said. “We want people to get 7 inches of snow out of their driveway, but we don’t want them putting it back on the road.”