With winter weather predicted to affect much of East Central Pennsylvania this weekend, PennDOT’s Engineering District 5 today (Friday, January 23, 2015) urged motorists to use caution and allow extra time to reach their destinations.

With weather forecasts ranging from sleet to significant snowfalls, motorists will encounter different driving conditions, and PennDOT will handle each precipitation type differently.

PennDOT forces will use the air and road temperature sensors in their plow trucks to determine what treatment material is best given the type of precipitation and temperature.

During storms, interstates and expressways are PennDOT’s primary focus and equipment may be redirected to these routes during significant winter events.

Plow trucks will also be slowed when facing heavy precipitation or when many other vehicles are also on roadways. This means that during heavier storms, motorists may find deeper accumulations on less-traveled routes and should adjust their driving for those conditions.

How often roadways are plowed or treated with salt and other material depends on a road’s traffic volume. On interstates and expressways, PennDOT aims for its plow trucks to pass by the same point on a plow route every two hours.

For other major roadways the department’s goal is for trucks to pass by the same point every two or three hours. On lower-volume roadways the department’s goal extends to every three to four hours, with less frequent cycles on roads with the lowest traffic volumes.

For more information on PennDOT’s winter operations, visit http://www.dot.state.pa.us/winter and review the “PennDOT Winter Services Guide.”

To help make decisions as to whether to travel during winter weather, motorists are encouraged to “Know Before You Go” by checking conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 700 traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.

Follow local PennDOT information on Twitter at www.twitter.com/511PAAllentown.