Johan Ebbit, 24, of Madison, a tiny Westmoreland County borough southwest of Greensburg, has been on the North Huntingdon road crew for the last 18 months.
Starting late Saturday, Ebbitt and 16 other plow operators worked nearly around-the-clock to clear snow in Westmoreland County’s second largest municipality.
“We just kept going. Every place we did a road then came back later and it looked like we were never there,” Ebbitt said.
Ebbitt’s route focuses on township roads and housing plans south of Route 30. It’s his second winter on the crew, and this storm is the biggest he’s seen so far.
He and his coworkers were working 18-hour shifts with breaks.
Early sweeps on the roads were focused on making the roads passable. By Monday morning, the plan was to clear out as much snow as possible to make travel a bit easier.
“If we’re just dropping salt, it takes about three hours to run a route. If we’re plowing, it’s about six hours,” Ebbitt said.
His Monday morning route figured to take a bit longer.
A pin connecting the plow to his truck broke, forcing him to sit idle for about 30 minutes while a mechanic installed new hardware.
“It’s not too bad out here. We try to stay ahead of it if we can and take breaks when we can,” Ebbitt said.
Greensburg Streets Superintendent Tom Bell said parking lots were opening up on Monday, and roads were in good shape.
“I think all over town, everybody’s able to get around,” he said Monday afternoon.
The city has a good supply of salt and is waiting on a 600-ton order.
Crews worked from 2:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday and were back at it at 4 a.m. Monday to get neighborhood streets opened up, he said.
“We salted everything pretty heavy (Monday) morning,” he said.
City crews are responsible for 55 miles of neighborhood road and 20 miles of alley. On Sunday, there were 15 workers and 12 trucks.
Lower Burrell Mayor Chris Fabry said road crews were out 18 hours Sunday, from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. and went out again at 5 a.m. Monday.
All five trucks were being used, Fabry said.
“Progress is being made but there is a lot of snow, obviously,” Fabry said.
Lower Burrell declared a state of emergency Sunday but lifted it at 7 a.m. Monday. Fabry asked people not to travel unless they had to before noon.
“For the first time ever, we had a prep meeting between the city, public works, police and fire departments, EMTs, and the school district,” Fabry said.
Hempfield Township Manager Aaron Siko said crews were working on secondary and back roads on Monday and would be conserving salt until a 500-ton order arrives.
“Not every road is going to be totally bare,” he said.
Hempfield has about 700 tons of salt on hand, said Austin Erhard, public works director. During a typical snowstorm, about 120 tons of salt is used in one complete pass of the township’s 300 miles, he said.
That 500-ton order should arrive any day, Siko said. Until then, roads that are flat and straight might have a little more snow on them while hills and hazardous areas get treated as normal.
Hempfield crews manned 26 trucks from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday and were back at it at 4 a.m. Monday.
TribLive staff writers Renatta Signorini, Kellen Stepler and Julia Burdelski contributed to this report.