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Plow Driver Has Message for Drivers

DUNMORE — PennDOT says truck restrictions, as well as extra plow trucks across the northeast, have helped to keep the highways clear. PennDOT officials sa...

DUNMORE -- PennDOT says truck restrictions, as well as extra plow trucks across the northeast, have helped to keep the highways clear.

PennDOT officials say five plow trucks and a couple of graders came up from central Pennsylvania to help in Lackawanna, Wayne, Pike, and Wyoming Counties.

It was just one of several moves meant to prevent some of the problems seen on interstates during last week's storm.

After a long day on Friday, plow truck driver Tim Beavers says he had something to say and expressed the best way he knew how. Over the weekend using a paint pen, he shared his advice to other drivers.

"I was just fed up sitting on the highway the other day, and I just needed to put my message out."

It took him four hours to get from Monroe County to Lackawanna on Interstate 380 during Friday's snowstorm. He was hoping this storm would be different and apparently others who saw his message felt the same way.

"Everybody loves it," Beavers said. "I get stopped all the time. A couple PennDOT workers stopped me to give me a thumbs up and everything."

Inside PennDOT's command center in Dunmore, it looks like many got the message. Employees here say their highway cameras showed a lot less traffic than last week.

"I was here until 3:00 in the morning, but we were manning this through the night last night, and really until just a few hours ago everything was very, very quiet. We're still seeing a lot of cars staying off the road, so that's a good thing, and the snow is starting to pick up across the area," said PennDOT official James May.

Travel restrictions -- mainly on tractor-trailers -- on certain interstates will remain in place until the storm is over. PennDOT says it's helping their plows keep the roads clear so far.

"The message has been getting out there. We have the message boards up communicating as much as we can, and we are seeing that a lot of trucks are heeding that advice and are staying off the roads," May said.

See real-time traffic information at WNEP Traffic Tracker.

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