A PennDOT salt truck overturned as snow and wind pelted Berks County Saturday morning.
The truck overturned in whiteout conditions along Memorial Highway (Pennsylvania Route 662), near Blandon Road (Route 73), in Oley Township around 7:30 a.m., said PennDOT.
The driver was treated at the scene and is expected to be back at work in another truck later in the day, said PennDOT.
Another truck went to the scene to treat the roadway, said PennDOT.
No word yet on an exact cause for the crash but PennDOT said the driver had poor visibility before the wreck.
Gov. Tom Wolf declared a state of emergency for Pennsylvania and officials advised drivers to stay indoors during the weekend storm that is predicted to dump up to 2-feet of snow in some areas of the state.
"What we're really trying to hammer home is for people to stay off the roads," Transportation Secretary Leslie S. Richards said Friday during a news conference. "The more people can stay off the roads, the more our equipment operators can do their job."
PennDOT deployed more than 700 snow plows to state roads in the region and said tow trucks would be roaming the roads through Sunday. The agency warned that PennDOT crews are treating roadways to keep them "passable, not completely free of ice and snow."
But, if drivers are forced to hit the roads in cases of emergency, technology is making it a lot easier to determine where snow plows are, what routes have already been cleared, and if they’re on their way to clean your road.
The 511 Pennsylvania snow plow tracker system gives users access to road conditions via live traffic cameras. It also shows the locations of plow trucks and allows users to track its past routes. The plow icons do not move in real time, but refreshing the page will update their current location.
The tracker, also available via an app for smartphones, allows users to zoom in into their neighborhood and out for a broader view of the entire state's conditions.
Still, PennDOT spokesman Eugene Blaum said heavy winds and a snowfall rate of between 1-2 inches an hour, drivers are seeing snow beginning to pile up on roads that have been plowed.
"We've got serious issues with snow blowing and snow on the roads," Blaum said. "If you don't have to travel, please do not."
Whiteout conditions on roadways caused a PennDOT salt truck to overturn on Memorial Highway in Berks County Saturday morning and the National Guard was called to assist stranded motorists on the Pennsylvania Turnike in Bedford County.
