The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation says it's ready for winter weather,
with a more than $177 million budget for snow-removal operations on its 40,500 miles of state roads and 26,000 bridges.
PennDOT started taking deliveries of road salt in August, and has about 461,000 tons of salt in stock statewide. PennDOT will maintain an inventory of at least 340,000 tons of salt until mid-February. Last winter, crews used about 1 million tons of salt and 844,000 tons of anti-skid to keep Pennsylvania roads safe.
Statewide, PennDOT has an equipment fleet of about 2,200 dump trucks, 550 front-end loaders and 24 snow blowers. PennDOT also will rent about 350 trucks and operators to assist with snow removal and has working agreements in place with about 800 municipalities to clear state roads within their jurisdiction.
This year, PennDOT will have 135 anti-icing trucks in its equipment fleet. Anti-icing trucks apply liquid magnesium chloride, calcium chloride or salt water to the road surface before freezing precipitation starts to fall. Magnesium chloride, however, has generated complaints in the trucking industry that it causes corrosion and damage to electrical systems, brakes and other components.