A major operation to clear city of Erie emergency routes continued on Wednesday for a second day.

Erie News Now followed crews working West 18th Street in the area of Liberty and Cherry Streets.

Multiple police cars block the area, then front loaders and plows get to work, digging and pushing away the heavy snow and clearing away the ruts.

The heavy equipment is helping to clear away a thick layers of icy snow that has been making driving challenging and treacherous.

And yes, tow companies are still assisting, hauling cars off that are in the way of the plowing operation.

In neighborhoods south of 38th Street, Penndot road graders are working with teams of city streets crews to get to the bottom of the hard packed snow.

It's not an easy task, even with the extra equipment. But the need south of the city is great.  We saw one driver stuck in very deep snow in the middle of East 40th Street, before the operation came through.

When the plows and graders do come, residents are left with hard icy chunks to clear from their driveways.  Some understand that the streets department is dealing with a bear of a problem. "The streets can only do what they can do, they only have so many people, they're doing the best they can, I think," David Whetherbee said. 

While other on the east side, where 6th Street and East Lake Road were a rutted mess are very unhappy, including Jared Bizzarro a former Erie resident visiting from Florida. "I think the city let people down, the streets are terrible and some people are plowed in, elderly are plowed in. I think instead of charging people the city should be helping them," he said.

Streets Bureau Chief Jeff Gibbens said a team of graders started to tackle East 6th Street late Wednesday.  He expected more equipment to from Penndot to arrive Wednesday night to continue the clean up process before new snows arrive.