Who can forget what was happening this week exactly two years ago? We were digging out of one of the worst snow storms on record. More than 20 inches of snow fell in Pittsburgh.

In Pittsburgh, city leaders took a lot of heat over the slow snow removal process. Since then, the city has put into place a brand new snow removal plan.

Target 11 Investigator Rick Earle began looking into the plan and discovered that since its implementation, the city has done a pretty good job.

“What you want to do is learn from it. What your strengths and weaknesses are. The plan that was in the works then didn’t really cover what to do in a state of emergency,” said Public Works Director Rob Kaczorowski.

One of the biggest changes was the designation of snow emergency routes throughout the city. The city posted signs on major roads. They are the first to get treated when there’s more than six inches of snow. Drivers are reminded to remove their cars from these routes or they will be towed.

“These are main arteries that go through different neighborhoods that will be plowed and salted to give emergency vehicles and mass transit access to neighborhoods,” said Kaczorowski.

Two years ago, the city had trouble finding private contractors to come in and help with snow removal. Now, they have a list of contractors already on standby and ready to go.

“We have these guys on speed dial. We have a commitment of the prequalified contractors with over 120 pieces of equipment that will dispatch into the neighborhoods to do a haul and removal,” said Kaczorowski.

The city also changed its strategy for smaller snow falls. Instead of concentrating on the primary routes first, and then moving into the secondary streets, Public Works crews will take the small trucks and plows immediately into the secondary streets. Crews will concentrate on the hilly terrain, such us the South side slopes, the North side and the West End.

After the storm of 2010, City Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak led the committee to investigate and improve snow response. Rudiak said that the city is in much better shape today than two years ago, but she indicated that there’s still room for improvement.

Some of the recommendations like improving communications with city council have been implemented. For instance, now when there’s the threat of a snow storm, public works provides each city council member with a detailed sheet outlining how much snow is expected and what the city’s response will be.

Rudiak said she posts most of that information to her Facebook and Twitter accounts so her constituents have access to the latest information.

Still, Rudiak said some of the recommendations haven’t been implemented. The committee recommended GPS units in all plow trucks to provide real-time information on line for residents. It’s a system that some other cities, including Chicago, have begun using.

“You can go online and see where the plow truck was and what routes were done, and you can see when they are coming by your house,” said Rudiak.

“We are still evaluating that to see how useful that will be in managing a snow and ice event,” said Kaczorowski, who said the response times have dropped since the storm of 2010.

Kaczorowski said the goal is to get to every street in 12 to 24 hours after the snow stops falling.

Rudiak said that residents in her district have seen improvements.

“We’ve gotten calls from some of our constituents who say that their streets are being plowed for the first time in 20 years. That’s progress and we are really excited about that,” said Rudiak.