How is snow cleanup going across Butler County?
Butler County is still shoveling its way out of the snow that buried communities in a Sunday storm.
It’s been several days since the storm passed by Butler County but some municipalities have taken days to clear snow away from their main roads.
Saxonburg declared a “snow emergency” on Saturday in order to bar residents from parking on essential roads and clear the way for public works crews to clear snow. It wasn’t until Thursday, Jan. 29, that the emergency was lifted, as the borough’s road crews cleared Main Street and the side streets.
Borough manager Steven May said the delay in clearing Main Street, where most of the borough’s small businesses are centered, was due to the “sheer volume” of snow.
“We had no place to put it all,” May said. “What we had to do was contract a triaxle dump truck, load it and put (the snow) in the fire department parking area.”
In the intervening time, businesses along Main Street were forced to keep their doors closed on Monday and Tuesday and for “an hour and 45 minutes” on Wednesday while waiting for equipment to clear snow away.
“Batch, Main Street Bake Shop, the library ... All of those ended up closed because it was such a mess up there,” May said.
Likewise, on Thursday, the public works department of the Mars cleared the last of the snow away from Grand Avenue along the borough’s downtown area.
“Our public works worked extra hard to keep the street cleared out so people could park,” said Mars Mayor Gregg Hartung. “We continue to monitor the weather in terms of icing and cold and we’ll go out and salt again at intersections and clear snow if we have to.”
Hartung said Grand Avenue took a few days to completely clear because the borough was busy clearing side streets.
“We just had to do things in progression, based on what the need was in terms of people being able to get out and get around,” Hartung said. “Other arteries in the borough needed to be contended with first to make sure that people could get out.”
“The impact of the snow has definitely slowed everything down,” said John Podolak, owner of After Hours Tattoo Studio on Grand Avenue. “In general, with the cold weather and everything, it’s definitely just slowed people from wanting to go anywhere.”
Zelienople is still under a snow emergency put into effect on Jan. 25, just as the storm was approaching. Like Saxonburg, Zelienople’s snow emergency declaration prohibits residents from parking on certain borough streets.
As of Friday, according to Mayor Thomas Oliverio, the borough’s public works crew had only partially cleared Main Street.
“On Main Street, they’ve gotten two blocks done. People can park along two blocks of Main Street right now,” Oliverio said. “Our biggest concern right now is Main Street.”
In the north, Slippery Rock Township Supervisor Paul Dickey reported all roads in the township were cleared of snow within days and no snow emergency had to be declared.
“The township roads are all passable,” Dickey said. “(The public works department) kept up with it pretty good.”
Despite the large number of roads to cover, Cranberry Township’s roads are all clear of snow, according to township manager Dan Santoro. This includes roads in both commercial and residential areas.
Santoro credited the work of the township’s 25 public works employees who worked long schedules from Sunday through Tuesday.
“We've been cleaned up and in good shape and passable since Monday,” Santoro said. “(The plow drivers) were out for an extended period of time, from 2 a.m. Sunday morning through 8:30 p.m. Sunday evening, and then were back out 4:30 a.m. Monday morning. They went back in on Monday and Tuesday and cleaned up the cul-de-sacs.”
Meanwhile, Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy reported at a city council meeting on Thursday the public works department is still at work clearing snow from the city’s streets, focusing mainly on Main Street, the business district and the most important roads, including Brady Street due to Butler Memorial Hospital.
While boroughs, townships and the city are responsible for clearing their own streets, the responsibility for clearing state and federal roads falls to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
According to acting district executive Alice Hammond, all “snow routes” in PennDOT District 10, made up of Butler and four other counties, have been cleared.
“District 10 has a combined total of 165 snow routes that cover our five-county area,” Hammond said. “We have cleared the snow from all of them and our crews are working hard to push snow back on shoulders and intersections.”
Hammond added the storm, despite its impact, did not have an adverse impact on PennDOT’s salt supplies.
“The impacts to our salt supplies ... are what we expected for the magnitude of the storm,” Hammond said. “With the extreme cold temperatures which are forecast to continue, using more anti-skid than salt is more effective.”
