ARMSTRONG CO. Pa. — The Wolf Administration yesterday announced that 17 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) maintenance facilities recently received the Salt Institute’s Safe and Sustainable Snowfighting award, which recognizes road-salt management and storage practices that protect motorists and the environment.
The PennDOT stockpiles, located in Armstrong and Luzerne counties, are among 85 transportation facilities across the United States and Canada that applied for and received the award. The institute reviews salt storage as well as facility maintenance and housekeeping practices in evaluating facilities.
The PennDOT stockpiles receiving the award are:
- Cowansville, Crooked Creek, Distant, Farm, Kiski, Kittanning, Snyderville and Worthington in Armstrong County, and;
- Bear Creek, DuPont, Kyttle, Nuangola, Retreat, Sugar Notch, Sun Valley, Sybertsville, and West Hazleton in Luzerne County.
The Safe and Sustainable Snowfighting Award represents the highest acclaim for public safety and the environment. Recipients must meet or exceed nearly 70 different criteria covering storage, equipment, safety, environmental protection, and service.
About 26 million tons of deicing salt is applied to roadways in the U.S. last year according to the U.S. Geological Survey and another six million tons are spread in Canada. PennDOT used an average of more than 909,000 tons of salt over the past five winters.
PennDOT maintains nearly 40,000 miles of state-owned roadway with more than 4,800 department personnel and 2,200 trucks, plows and salt spreaders.
Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 850 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.
To learn more about PennDOT’s winter operations visit www.penndot.gov/winter.
