I realize that this side-tracks a little from the plowing snow…but, I have one simple question for you…Have you EVER seen anyone not sitting at a job site? THERE IS ALWAYS at least one “worker” and sometimes there are large groups just doing nothing… As for the snow, I live off of a state road and over the last couple days when it snows and lands on the road I will look outside hours (Sometimes I am talking more than 5 hrs.) after it has snowed and there will be NO indications of a snow plow having gone by…
The ONLY solution is to have a truly private company take care of it. However, this will never happen since the Gov. LOVES control.:smack:
Valid questions. However, since the post you’re responding to is from 2002 and catsix hasn’t logged in since June of 2009, don’t be heartbroken if you don’t get an answer right away.
Which governor are you talking about, by the way? There have been three since then.
Yes! I just moved to MD, but I’ve noticed this not only in snow but rain as well. I come from waaay “Upstate” and can handle myself in the snow/rain. But in MD… idiots feel like everyone else should give space not them.
Assholes: “If there’s an inch of slush on the road and I can’t see your license plate, I’m already trying to get out of the way. If I can’t, keep your tail of mine or I’ll use the 9.” Well, not really about the 9mm thing, but I’ve thought about it…
Folks who come from places where it actually slows are generally more cautious and considerate.
“And then there are times that we busted our asses working overtime with little or no rest to make sure that a road was travel-safe.”
I laugh my ass of at this - you worked your asses off working overtime (meaning extra pay). If I’m not mistaken, PA has unions - so overtime=money. Mind you, I’m not breaking your balls, I’m just saying that “hey, the job is gonna’ take longer today” = “hey, I thought I’d buy my kid a BMW.” In many cases at least.
At least you HAVE plows. Here, the road defense is to spray pin-stripes of brine on the roads before snow falls, and then leave people to their own wits afterward. After last Monday’s snow and Tuesday’s ice, some roads were still icy on Friday.
Not me. I’m keeping the zombies frozen with ice-shrooms.
My condo association is being uber conservative with snow removal expenses this winter. We don’t plow for anything short of 2" of accumulation. And after Monday night’s ice storm, we only sanded the parking lot, we didn’t spread salt or other ice melt treatments.
I laughed at this same line. The guy fails to mention that PennDOT is getting overtime to do this work. They aren’t saints, doing it for free or for the greater good of the community. They are working for a lot of extra money. I don’t feel that sorry for them.
PennDOT is one of the most corrupt, wasteful organizations in the state. The state roads are make-work projects, where the same 10 miles of road are redone every 5 years or so by the same crew. Every spring and summer, they head out to fill potholes using that special PennDOT mixture of Popcorn and molasses. Of course, it doesn’t hold when the cold weather arrives, and the cycle begins anew each spring. Fathers pass their push brooms on to their sons when it’s there turn to work the family 5 mile chunk of concrete.
Every 20 years or so, the children join their parents. Kind of like the locusts coming of the ground every 17 years or so. It’s the cycle of life!
Well, I have to give them credit. When Barb and I went on vacation to Florida, back before we moved south, in January 1989, they were beginning to rebuild the interchange of I-81, US-6, I-380 and I-84 northeast of Scranton. The last time we went north for a visit, in the summer of 2006 or 2007, they had just finished the work and were removing signage – though they were doing repair work further southnear Scranton proper. So they do get things done. A child born when they begun that project would not quite have graduated from high school when they finished it.
Now that I’ve spent more time in New York State, I appreciate PennDot more. AFAIK PennDot never left hundreds of motorists stranded less than 10 miles outside of the second-largest city in the state for 24 hours, on what is normally the busiest road in the area, because they couldn’t decide where the plows needed to go.
For whatever reason the NYS Thruway authority is really falling down on the job this year. Even a couple of inches of snow (hardly anything for this area, since even 6-8 usually isn’t enough to cancel school) is throwing them for a loop. It’s amazing to see the side roads plowed and the Thruway covered…totally the opposite of what normally happens.
Do they do the classic Alberta Highways department move - put up the construction signs long before and long after the actual work is done, reducing the speed limits, and heavily ticketing anyone who goes above the construction zone speed limits? Gotta love those construction zones signs that stay up for six months after the work is done!
yes and no. I think we all understand that roads are not forever and they will deteriorate over time and usage. However, I think we also all can understand that using substandard materials can reduce the life of a road surface significantly.
When you drive into PA from West VA, Maryland, Ohio, New York, New Jersey or Delaware, you can immediately tell. You can’t tell me that PA’s freeze/thaw cycle is different than the surrounding states. But that’s what PennDOT tells the residents of the state of PA.
So, yeah… Thanks for the link. But if you have ever lived in PA for any length of time, you know that the materials used to make and maintain the road is substandard crap. Like popcorn and molasses.
SFP is right. You can almost immediately tell when you’ve driven over the state line just by the condition of the highway. We go to the Baltimore area about two or three times a year and the transition is like night and day.
I remember when I was little and my parents would complain about PD’s response to potholes, I used to think that PennDOT’s job was to create those potholes. Quite honestly, I don’t think I was that far off.
You probably have a point about their plowing deficiencies, but what’s with the spaces before your exclamation marks and question marks? Your non-standard punctuation is making baby Jesus cry:mad:
AS someone who has moved to Western PA about 5 years ago, I think I agree with this one wholeheartedly.
I drive up and down 28, from Pittsburgh to New Kensington, and then on 356 to my town.
Whenever there is significant snowfall on my shift, I get freaked out a bit because sure as hell, there will not have been a plow or sand truck on half of 28 for my drive home.
I live 35 miles from where I work. My usual commute is about 45 minutes. The snowstorm last week had my drive take 2 hours.
Plus, they have patched the same 3-4 holes on the Tarentum bridge 3 times since I’ve moved here. They are CLEARLY messing up at some point. It’s a 2 lane bridge each way. Wouldn’t be hard to shut down one lane for a bit longer, and get it done right.