On Tuesday, January 21, the most recent amount of snowfall hit Pittsburgh and caused a lot of problems on the streets. Like always, Public Works claimed–before the snow arrived–that they were prepared for the impending snow and that the streets would be taken care of. However, when I woke up on that Tuesday morning the streets were not even touched. They were terrible and very dangerous.

The reason why I think this happened was because Pittsburgh Public Schools and most of the other schools around the city were closed due to the weather. Public Works must have felt that since the children were not going to be in school, it was ok to not take care of the roads. This mindset is unfair to all of the people who still had to go to work and to all of the college students who still had school.  For students who commute, like myself, it was rough getting to school that day. Traffic was backed up for miles and it took a lot longer to get to Chatham than it usually does.

I saw later on the news that there was an accident on a street that I had been on just a few hours earlier. This is scary to think about because it all could have been prevented if the roads were treated properly. Public Works should take care of the streets regardless of whether Pittsburgh Public Schools are in session or not. The fact that winter is far from over means that Public Works should take responsibility for their actions and make sure that they truly are prepared for what’s to come. They should do less talking and more doing.

*Edited 2/18/14: Penndot changed to the Department of Public Works