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Snowy roads lead to extended evening commute, drivers concerned about lack of cleanup

PITTSBURGH — It was an ugly and long commute home Tuesday night for drivers because of the wintry weather.

Some side streets in Pittsburgh are still covered in snow.

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Mayor Bill Peduto is blaming the snowplow truck drivers.

"There were people who were scheduled to be there who didn't show," he said.

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The union that represents the drivers is not happy that Peduto is blaming them. The union said the city is at fault.

Representatives with the city of Pittsburgh told Channel 11 there are 55 snowplow truck drivers out right now.

"Driving on the side roads, you can't stop. You got to go real real slow," said resident Larry DeYoung. "I'm from Boston. They put them to shame. They don't plow. There's not enough plowing going on."

Traffic is a nightmare around Pittsburgh right now!

Posted by Michele Newell WPXI on Tuesday, January 16, 2018

"We got behind on this one and we were never able to catch up," Peduto said. "When you don't have people in the trucks, when you don't have enough trucks on the street, you fall behind. Snow gets compacted, snow turns to ice and you end up with situations that are dangerous."

Channel 11 spoke to a representative for the union that represents the drivers and that person said there's been an issue with overtime. They also said that the union intends to file a grievance.

"Instead of blaming the city drivers working around-the-clock, they should maybe look at supervisors for not being adequate and maybe even a lack of equipment being out of service," the union representative said.