PITTSBURGH — It was a lofty goal, but one that Mayor Ed Gainey and Pittsburgh Public Works officials were committed to: treating and clearing all of the city’s roads within 24 hours of snowfall. But people who live in the Carrick neighborhood tell Channel 11 that as of 8:45 p.m. Sunday, there was still work to be done.
“It’s still incredibly icy, and right here is where earlier today, kids were sledding down here because it was so icy,” said Chelsey Engel, who moved to Carrick over the summer.
She showed us video of Sprucewood Street, after having to park her car a street over on Leolyn, because she couldn’t safely drive home and had to walk.
“There are days when I have to use a cane. Today was not one of those days, but if it had been, I really would have been out of luck,” said Engel.
Channel 11 received mixed reactions from city residents about how the snowfall was handled by crews. While people in some Pittsburgh neighborhoods said they had no issues, others reported their streets were a sheet of ice and snow-covered.
On Sunday afternoon, Channel 11 asked Gainey about the overall public works response overnight and how he thought crews handled the elements.
“They went well. There’s always room for improvement. We have to make sure we do better on the south hills, I believe. Most of the city was pretty good. We got a lot of good reports. We did get a couple complaints from the south hills,” said Gainey.
That includes hilly neighborhoods like Carrick, Beechview and Brookline, the area where a public works facility was slated to be built this year in District 4, but has since been delayed and will not open this year. That means snow plows have to come from other parts of the city to service those areas.
“There was something that we didn’t recognize coming in. We found out we had to go through the state, get the right things done, so hopefully it’ll be ready next year,” said Gainey.
“I called 911, they said, ‘Just wait till a salt truck comes.’ Well, it’s 8:45, and no salt truck has come. Was I supposed to stay in my car until now?,” said Engel.
Public works officials said last month that once the department has built up its staffing and equipment, they wanted to see that turnaround time drop from 24 hours to 10.
“We always talk about an aging fleet. We’ll go out and lease more as it goes on, and we’ll start getting things done as the budget is passed,” said Gainey .
Until things get better, Engel has her doubts.
“This was only the first snow, and it was barely a snow. I’m like, ‘Do I have to move again?’ Because if this is a consistent thing, I can’t stay here,” said Engel.
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