Weather puts crews out on the road again

On Monday the snow plow headed up Smith Ridge as Tyler County road crews worked almost non-stop since Sunday to clear the highways and secondary roads clear for drivers.
Just when it looked like spring was about to arrive, another blast of old man winter blew into the local area. Within a few hours Sunday morning, the roads were again covered and the snow begin to pile up. All the main roads became slick and the secondary roads quickly became mostly impassable.
Once again schools canceled classes for Monday and even several local restaurants closed early. The Department of Highways in Wetzel and Tyler counties, both were out on Sunday plowing and spreading salt plus cinders.
Most of the main roads as of Monday were clear to partly slushy and the secondary roads were still slick and snow covered.
Doug Hayes, superintendent of the Tyler County Department of Highways, said the road crews have been out working since Sunday and are continuing to plow and treat the roads. He said for the most part the main roads were clear and they were now starting to concentrate on the secondary roads. He felt they still had a good supply of salt and plenty of cinders.
Randy Rush, county roads administrator for Wetzel County, said his crews are doing all they can to keep up.
He said they are running low on salt and cinders, but the plow trucks are out. As of Monday they hadn’t started on the secondary roads.
“Providing the equipment holds up, we will be working to get there.” He did say the main roads have been plowed but some remain slushy.
The city street crews in Paden City, Sistersville, New Martinsville, and Middlebourne were all out plowing the streets and spreading cinders as of Monday. Paden City Recorder Tammi Billiter said the street crew was out on Sunday as well and were trying to keep up the best they can.
Sistersville City Commissioner Daniel Grimes said the men have been working since Sunday clearing streets and spreading cinders.
He said the plow broke down on Monday but the men are working to get it fixed. He said he added extra help from the water department to try and get caught up.
“Just hoping this is the end of it (snow and ice) we have a lot to get caught up on.”
Tyler County Schools also closed on Tuesday.