Cranberry Township officials test out new technology for winter weather preparedness initiative

CRANBERRY, Pa. — Crews were scheduled to report to the Cranberry Township Department of Public Works at 4 a.m. in preparation for the Tuesday morning commute. Channel 11 got a behind-the-scenes look inside the Township’s Traffic Operations Center (TOC).

“It is pretty slick out there. You never know what the storm is going to bring,” said Kelly Maurer, Director of Public Works for Cranberry Township.

Some relatively new tools are helping officials prepare for just about anything when it comes to winter weather and bitterly cold temperatures. Last year, pavement sensors were installed in the ground, the latest round of technology to make its way to the TOC.

“We do use these sensors to tell us when the snow is going to lay,” Maurer said. “You’d be surprised how many times it’s snowing, but the pavement temperature may be 38, 40 degrees, and we know it’s not going to lay. So then we know we don’t have to treat the roads.”

The sensors also detect how much salt is on the ground, saving taxpayers money and helping the environment. But that’s not the only information these 25 drivers on 17 routes can receive while on the road. Much of the data is available through an app so everyone can be better prepared for whatever roads lie ahead.

“They know when they go to bed at night, they know they’ll probably be called out, say, at 4 in the morning, so they can get a good night’s sleep before then. Before, it was a guessing game,” Maurer said.

The Traffic Operations Center is one of the only of its kind in the state that’s run by a municipality. The team is in constant communication with drivers, telling them when it’s time to reload their trucks with salt or other materials.

“When the temperatures do get down – when they get to be 20 degrees, we do turn over to magnesium chloride, and that does work at lower temperatures. If it goes below zero, we would change it again to calcium chloride,” Maurer said.

The team of trucks helps to maintain 132 municipal roads.

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