Loyalhanna Creek creating issues for Latrobe crews working to remove snow from streets

LATROBE, Pa. — A big issue from snow removal in Latrobe has been the Loyalhanna Creek.

The city has had to find places large enough to hold snow and far enough away from the water to prevent runoff from salt.

“Be patient, we are doing the best we can,” Latrobe Public Works Director Scott Wajdic said.

That was the message as the city continues to remove snow from the streets.

“We are behind, of course, because not only the snow that we plow down the streets, but they cleaned all of their sidewalks and threw it into the edge of the street. So when we are removing it, we are removing more than just what we plowed,” Wajdic said.

According to Wajdic, the city has already filled three locations to their max capacity with snow.

Drone 11 saw one of the sites behind Latrobe Memorial Stadium near downtown.

The EPA requires the city to dump snow at least 150 yards away from fresh water, making it more difficult for Latrobe because the Loyalhanna Creek runs along its perimeter.

Thankfully, they acquired a fourth location on Monday from Lehigh Specialty Metals across from the Latrobe Elementary School. Still, the public works department says they’re feeling the lasting impacts of last Sunday’s storm, especially in their salt supply.

“We’re below 50% of what we normally keep. We normally keep 1,000 tons of salt. We are below. we probably have about 400 tons,” Wajdic said.

Wajdic says they have alternative options in case our area sees a larger amount of snow.

Another delay comes from equipment failures. The city, in July, hired three subcontractors to help with snow removal. Unfortunately, one of the contractor’s pieces of equipment went down twice during the removal process. Wajdic says they are continuing to clean up the streets and are laying calcium and salt on the ones that still may see some snow.

“We started on the far east end of town and worked our way through it,” Wajdic said.

The public works department has been working on a 12-hour shift rotation for over a week now and will continue to do so until all of the snow is cleared.

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