A car passes by a giant pile of snow near the Sixth and Market Street intersection Tuesday afternoon in Parkersburg. (Photo by Art Smith)

PARKERSBURG — Road crews in local towns and cities are still working on getting roads cleared while dealing with freezing temperatures and ice accumulation.

The area is still dealing with snow that fell over the area Saturday and Sunday as road crews in local cities and towns continue to work to keep local roadways cleared off.

The area had a Cold Weather Advisory issued by the National Weather Service in Charleston that remained in effect until 11 a.m. this morning with cold wind chills expected of -12 for the area.

The cold weather has been a challenge for crews working to clear snow and ice from local roadways.

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce said road crews have been working non-stop since 6 p.m. Saturday.

A worker uses a skid-steer to pile snow into a large pile near the intersection of Market and Second streets Tuesday in Parkersburg. Crews were busy throughout the city clearing snow and ice from the roadways. (Photo by Art Smith)

“We are doing the best we can,” he said. “Some streets are certainly better than others.

“Some of our side streets are still not to the point where they would be normally, because of the freezing rain that came after the initial snow (on Sunday) and the extreme cold.”

Joyce said the rain created a layer of ice that has been challenging for local crews to deal with.

“You can’t plow ice,” he said. “We don’t have the equipment to chop up and spread the ice so we are doing the best we can.”

Many of the main roads in the city are passable, but Joyce is continually cautioning people to still drive carefully with “some common sense and caution.”

Many side streets and secondary streets have remained covered with snow and ice with little pavement showing, he said.

The cold temperatures have been keeping things frozen even after road crews have gone through certain areas.

Joyce said there will be trash pick up today for people who usually have their trash picked up on Wednesdays (people who have it picked up Monday and Tuesday are being asked to hold until next week), but crews will be given “stop work authority” where they have the discretion to decide whether they go down narrow streets or go up or down certain hills or road grades.

“We are going to pick up what we can and pick it up safely,” Joyce said with crews out at 7 a.m. this morning as opposed to the usual 4 a.m. starting time because of the cold temperatures and improved visibility during daytime hours.

Joyce said city workers are doing what they can. The city runs seven road trucks with salt spreaders and plows. They have had some mechanical problems,but they have been fixed and are back out on the roads.

“We are doing the best we can,” Joyce said. “Our crews have gone through a tremendous amount of salt.

“It is a tough situation all around.”

He is urging residents to be patient as city officials have received a number of phone calls asking for certain roads to be cleared while others have complained about their cars being buried when plows do go through.

“We really are doing the best we can,” Joyce said.

Belpre Mayor Susan Abdella said many roads in her city were in good shape.

“Our roads are pretty good actually,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “The guys have been out, salting and keeping the slush pushed out.

“However, as the temperatures drop it all just refreezes. It has been a challenge.”

Overall, traffic has been moving well throughout the city and they haven’t had many accidents. “We are happy with the way things have been going,” Abdella said.

She said they have had issues where things have been plowed along many streets and it ends up freezing and creating additional challenges for residents.

Vienna Mayor Chad Emrick said things were “exceptionally good throughout the city.”

Vienna road crews have been working around the clock since 7 p.m. Saturday.

“They have been doing a really good job of getting everything clear,” he said. “We are very happy with the crews’ response and everything they have done.”

Ice continues to be a challenge as crews deal with it as they continue working on roads.

The crews in Vienna are working on sidewalks and bus stops, those secondary features around the city people utilize, Emrick said.

“They are getting those taken care of as we are looking towards the weekend,” he said. “We want to stress that if people can, move their cars off the road so the plows can come through.

“I know it is not available for everyone, but we want people to move your cars when you can.”

Emrick is also telling people to not shovel off their driveways and sidewalks into the roads.

“They need to put that to the left or the right of the driveways or the sidewalks,” he said. “If they put it in the road, it is just going to get plowed back into their driveways or sidewalks.”

Marietta Mayor Josh Schlicher said some of the roads in the city were still slushy as of Tuesday afternoon. The crews were working on a number of secondary roads Tuesday.

“They are pushing slush and from parking areas and alleyways and they are trying to tidy up spots that need done,” he said. “It is just going to be a lot of cleanup and detail work.”

Salt trucks have been going through the area, but they need some sunshine and heat to get the salt activated to start melting the ice and snow so crews can go through and plow and clear the streets.

“Ice has been a problem, especially at night with these temperatures,” Schlicher said. “Everything is freezing back up at night.”

Marietta has had road crews out constantly over the past few days hitting the main routes and hills, treating areas with salt and sand.

“We have a lot of secondary roads and main routes still covered with slushy ice,” Schlicher said. “Sunlight and heat would definitely help us.”

Throughout downtown, crews plowed everything to the center of the road so they could get some parking areas open up.

Crews will be downtown today with endloaders and dumptrucks to work on some areas that get covered up in initial plowing, like sidewalk intersections.

“They will work on clearing some of those and get some of those bad areas cleaned up,” Schlicher said. “We are going to try the best we can to get things cleared.

“Our guys will be working the best they can on the snow and ice for the rest of the week.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com