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Plows and shovels: PennDOT and residents prepare for more snow

With more snow in the forecast, both PennDOT and local residents stocked up on winter equipment Wednesday.

LITITZ, Pa. — With more snow in the forecast, both PennDOT and local residents stocked up on winter equipment Wednesday.

Many Pennsylvanians have become winter weary, but PennDOT crews had no time to be tired; they would need to be up and ready to plow snow by 1 a.m. Thursday.

All of PennDOT’s 310 trucks will be out for Winter Storm Viola, focusing first on major highways.

The work starts much earlier, though, on maintaining equipment. Amid an usually snowy winter, spreading salt and plowing the snow has been hard on the trucks.

“That’s why we have our own garages that we can work on the blades and we can flip them when they start wearing down,” said PennDOT spokesperson Fritzi Schreffler. “There’s a lot more work that goes into it than just the plowing.”

Tier 1 restrictions are also slated to begin at 1 a.m. Thursday morning. Tier 1 restrictions include a lower speed limit of 45 miles per hour, while certain vehicles like motorcycles and empty tractor trailers are banned.

The restrictions will affect several Southcentral Pennsylvania highways, including I-70, I-81 and I-83.

Meanwhile, hardware store employees said their sales matched the temperature outside in briskness.

Bomberger’s Ace Hardware in Lititz sold more than 600 shovels before one recent storm. The store is now restocking all winter supplies.

“We are getting very low on snowblowers but we still have 103,000 pounds of ice melt,” said hardware manager Rodney Witmer.

Ephrata resident Daniel Layton walked out of the store with salt, a shovel and an ice scraper.

“Personally I think snow is beautiful and I like it, but with work sometimes it’s not too fun to be out in it,” Layton said.

RELATED: Snow tonight through tomorrow to cause messy commutes

RELATED: Lancaster declares snow emergency ahead of upcoming winter storm

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