Snowplow woes force Pittsburgh officials to explore asking for help clearing roads

With nearly a third of Pittsburgh’s snowplow fleet out of commission, some city officials want to ask their neighbors for help.

Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill, said neighboring municipalities often seem to treat roads more efficiently than Pittsburgh. She wants to explore paying them to treat Pittsburgh roads after they’ve cleared their own.

“We’re in a crunch right now, and I think we have to use creativity like that,” Strassburger said.

Pittsburgh continues to struggle to plow and salt roads with an aging vehicle fleet prone to maintenance problems.

Public Works Director Chris Hornstein on Wednesday told City Council he’s already started talking with Munhall officials about a partnership.

Nearby municipalities, Hornstein said, invest more in their vehicle fleets so they can provide better services to their residents.

Pittsburgh has 103 vehicles — 37 of which are undergoing maintenance — to clear about 1,140 miles of roads.

Munhall, meanwhile, has eight trucks to clear about 60 miles, Hornstein said.

Pittsburgh, strapped for cash because of declining revenue, can’t afford to replace its snowplow fleet.

Strassburger said she’s been fielding calls from residents who are frustrated their roads are still slick and snow-covered even days after snow has stopped falling. Though those complaints come primarily from people living on smaller streets, those roads can be dangerous for drivers, particularly if they’re hilly.

“That makes some people feel like they don’t matter to the city just because they live on a cul-de-sac road or a smaller road,” she said.

Officials didn’t provide details about what kind of payment the city might offer for neighbors willing to provide plows and personnel to aid Pittsburgh in winter.

Hornstein said a deal could include Pittsburgh providing other services to those municipalities.

Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, said she worried there could be labor disputes with the city’s unionized public works staff if other crews clear city streets.

Kail-Smith also questioned what kind of service city residents would receive from municipalities that would prioritize their own residents.

But Strassburger said even if those neighbors took a whole day to handle their own streets before assisting Pittsburgh, it would still help to have extra crews clearing the smaller streets that would likely still be waiting for service.

“They’re not getting done in a timely manner, even two days after the snow has stopped,” Strassburger said.

Pittsburgh’s snow-clearing fleet is, on average, 11 years old, Hornstein said.

If the fleet were properly maintained, he said, the average age would be about five years.

As vehicles get older, officials said, they’re more prone to break down and be off the roads getting repaired.

City Controller Rachael Heisler pointed out that snowplows are sometimes delayed for maintenance longer than expected because ambulances and fire trucks get priority repairs before plows.

Similar maintenance issues with an aging vehicle fleet also plague the city’s public safety bureau. Officials have reported ambulances transporting patients breaking down en route to the hospital.

To properly maintain the city’s vehicle fleet, Pittsburgh should invest about $20 million per year on new vehicles, said Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview.

But the city this year allocated about $6 million of its capital budget to new vehicles. Next year, that figure is expected to drop to about $3 million before dipping even lower in the following two years.

Public works this year requested two new crew cab dump trucks for its parks division, plus five pickups and three dump trucks for the streets crew, said City Council Budget Director Peter McDevitt. The city could afford only the two trucks for the parks division, one of the three dump trucks for the streets division and none of the pickups requested for the streets crew.

“We’ve got to do better,” Kail-Smith said.