PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Public Works Director Chris Hornstein delivered some sobering news about the city’s salt trucks after complaints about the city’s response to snow events over the weekend.
“I think it was a really challenging event, all weekend long, all weekend long we’ve been out,” Hornstein said.
Director Hornstein said that the tricky combination of snow and rain presented some problems over the weekend. But, there’s another troubling issue — 11 Investigates has learned about a third of the city salt trucks, approximately 36 of the 104, are broken and out of service.
“We are always challenged with people and trucks. I’ll just be frank, a third of our fleet is kind of unavailable due to maintenance reasons,” Hornstein said.
Hornstein said 68 trucks were available, but only 50 were out Sunday night.
It’s unclear why they didn’t have all 68 on the road.
The department’s snow response led to some angry posts on social media over the weekend.
Channel 11 crews found an accident involving a car and bus in East Liberty. And viewers sent us pictures of snow covered roads throughout the city from Squirrel Hill to Homewood, to Westwood.
RELATED COVERAGE >>> Latest round of snow causes headaches for drivers in Allegheny County
And while the city was under a winter weather advisory Sunday afternoon until Monday morning, Director Hornstein said it was more than expected.
“I think quite honestly, the storm event yesterday, was out and about and it certainly became more than what was predicted,” said Hornstein.
With a chance of snow showers later this week, the big question is when will those trucks be ready?
“That’s a great question. I know nine were in the shop, which means they are getting actively worked on to be released to us so we are just waiting on updates on those. All the other ones we are awaiting parts, awaiting shop, you know just the regular challenge that comes with vehicle maintenance,” Hornstein said, who added that the city has plenty of salt.
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