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Behind the Wheel of PennDOT Plow Trucks

Wednesday, February 7, is going to be a long day for plow drivers clearing the way for the morning drive in Luzerne County. Newswatch 16’s Ryan Leckey is ...

Wednesday, February 7, is going to be a long day for plow drivers clearing the way for the morning drive in Luzerne County.

Newswatch 16's Ryan Leckey is out riding around with a PennDOT crew that's ready to get to work.

One by one, PennDOT's fleet of trucks near Hazleton got fired up around 4 a.m. then loaded up on material at the salt shed.

"The big challenge with a storm like this is that it's coming down so quickly," said PennDOT official James May.

"Most of the times as you're going making your rounds, by the time you get back to where you started, it looks like you weren't there before," said plow driver Paul McFarland.

McFarland urges drivers to be patient.

"Don't try to pass a plow truck when they're plowing," he advised.

Some crews even teamed up to tackle the mess along Route 61 south near Saint Clair.

Others couldn't clear away winter fast enough on Centre Street in Pottsville.

"Way too much snow," said Josh Williams. "Don't like the cold, don't like the snow, just ready to go home."

But clearly, those with four legs like Boo Boo are loving it. Lucky for all though, this mess is expected to start improving by Wednesday night.

PennDOT allows you to track their plow crews to see which highways they've worked on.

"In a storm like this, our goal is to make the roads passable. We can never keep them completely clear," May said. "And we do prioritize. The interstates will always have a much higher priority than some of the secondary roads."

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