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Tricky travel in Luzerne County as snow falls

As the snow starts to accumulate in many parts of northeastern and central Pennsylvania, road crews in Luzerne County prepare for the cleanup ahead.

LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Heavy snowfall in Luzerne County forced drivers off the roadway as PennDOT's restricted commercial vehicles on highways. James Boatwright is a truck driver from Southern Illinois, stuck in Pittston Township for most of the night. 

"I went to Hartford, Connecticut and picked another load up, and I'm going to Harrisburg, but I stopped here for the night because the roads are starting to get bad. I'm waiting it out. They may or may not let us go," said James Boatwright.

Boatwright says he had a hard time finding a place to park his truck. This gas station lot was nearly full when he came in. He says some may be tempted to just continue on their way. 

"I usually don't run into this kind of situation, so I parked as quickly as I could. The parking is very limited, everybody is pulling in and leaving. There's no place to park, so I don't know how they can enforce anything provided there's no place to park," Boatwright said.

In Wilkes-Barre Township, crews were ready to start clearing parking lots at Arena Hub Plaza. Joey Irvin and his team from Joey's Landcare plan to lay two tons of salt on these lots for the snow but expect the incoming rain to work in their favor.

"Some places that aren't open 24/7, we leave it until it accumulates and the rain comes. We will push it off and let the rain do the job. That way, we don't need to use as much salt," Joey Irvin.

He encourages drivers to stay off of the roads to help crews like his get the job done.

"Cars staying off the roads and everyone staying home; it's definitely the best-case scenario for cleanup crews. It just makes our jobs a lot easier. Less objects in the way, less people maneuvering around you. It's definitely way better," said Irvin.

Check out severe weather tips on WNEP’s YouTube channel.  

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