Back roads too snowy for VDOT’s usual plows
ASHLEY TWIGGS — SPECIAL TO THE DAILY PROGRESS
Charlottesville employee Bruce Crawford uses a snowblower to clear snow-clogged sidewalks around Lee Park.
Virginia Department of Transportation plows were so overwhelmed by the snow on some Albemarle County back roads Monday that officials had to send in front-end loaders.
“They just basically clear the road a scoop at a time,” VDOT spokesman Lou Hatter said.
VDOT also sent out graders in an attempt to clear thick layers of packed ice and snow from primary roads in the area. The graders, which are usually used to level roads before they’re paved, are equipped with two plows: one in front and a “belly blade” that sits under the vehicle’s cabin, roughly in its middle.
Hatter described the graders as “a big old honking piece of equipment.”
The belly blades can push down on the road surface and are tipped with carbide teeth, which allow them to pop the packed ice and snow up from the road so plows can clear it, VDOT’s Allan Sumpter said.
U.S. 29 and the U.S. 250 Bypass were among the roads where the graders saw service Monday.
“Part of 250 … had conditions kind of like frozen potholes,” Charlottesville spokesman Ric Barrick said.
He explained that city plows were ill-equipped to take on such fearsome wintry accumulation because the plows are built with a rubber edge, which, in more typical snowstorms, protects roads from plow damage.
“But with this condition, we can’t use it because it breaks the plow and isn’t efficient anyhow,” Barrick said.
He was hoping the graders would do the trick, he said.
The city also got more salt Monday after supplies ran low, Barrick said.
City workers had finished plowing every street at least once by Monday morning but were still working, he said.
Barrick said officials were debating where to put all of the snow.
“You can only pile it up so high and then it becomes an obstruction,” he said.
Roads remained treacherous. An accident involving a tractor-trailer halted traffic westbound from Charlottesville on Interstate 64 Monday evening, as drivers tried to get home before the roads froze over.
Officials had closed Route 53 between Route 20 and the Albemarle-Fluvanna County line to allow police to remove abandoned vehicles and VDOT crews to treat the road. The road reopened Monday evening.
Hatter said VDOT workers will likely need at least through today to get all the secondary roads in Albe-marle passable. Many rural routes likely will end up with hard-packed snow surfaces, he said.
VDOT road crews were working to keep main roads clear, but motorists should be wary that melting snow and ice will likely re-freeze on road surfaces.
“There’s more traffic on the road, and there are spots of snow and debris that people are striking, which are causing them to collide with other vehicles,” Albemarle County police Cpl. Dana Robinson said.
Hatter said only a few trees fell onto roads, attributing the good fortune to the relatively light weight of the snow.
Fred Hartling, of Commonwealth Drive in Albemarle County, wasn’t so lucky. He said he heard a faint thump as he was reading in the evening.
“Then all of a sudden, boom! And this thing shook the house,” he said.
When he looked outside, a pine tree he had planted 30 years ago had crashed into his house.
The VDOT crews have also paired up with crews from Dominion Virginia Power, which reported more than 100 customers still without power in Charlottesville and Albemarle County on Monday evening.
Hatter said transportation officials are now beginning to worry about the next blast of icy weather, a shot of freezing rain expected mid-week.
In the meantime, hospitals, transit systems and other local infrastructure were trying to get back on track. The University of Virginia Medical Center went back to a regular schedule Monday evening. The Charlottesville government and many other local agencies were planning to operate on reduced schedules today.
Marge Thomas, emergency management coordinator for UVa, Charlottesville and Albemarle County, said workers will continue trying their best to help those cut off by the storm.
“We just still have those places nobody has gotten into yet,” she said.
Reader Reactions
Don’t deride all VDOT, the other counties were well managed. Yes, maybe C’ville/Alb had more snow, but somehow the differences were found precisely at the county lines. I don’t think the strom acted according to jurisdictional boundaries.
This guy Hatter is more of an entrenched administrator/politician than an adept manager who makes a sound decisions. People like him are in the job because they follow rules and regulations. They don’t know how to make decisions. Hatter et al made a very bad call to wait and it should be understood how and what data determined that decision. Don’t these guys have ANY acountability?
CNM - there seems to be a lot of ‘missing the point’ as you missed my point. Anyone who is stuck in their house for 3-5 days after a well-advertised, heavier than normal, major storm system and says they are running out of food does not have my sympathy. Where’s the common sense? If you live in the county, especially on a tertiary road, you do not expect it will be cleared the day after a storm like this. You anticipate the electricity going out so you stockpile water for drinking and to flush your toilets, you figure out what alternate heat you will use (fireplace, wood burning stove, generator, etc.) and perhaps make sure the propane tank on your grill is full.
And whether you like it or not, these were unusual circumstances. In the middle of my post I am essentially saying the same thing you are - VDOT should have done better. You want to say it more vehemently than I do, that’s your right. But don’t hate on me for thinking it’s a not a tragedy to have to, nay, to EXPECT to, stay off the streets a few more days after one of the biggest storms of the decade.
Some people also stay up all night thinking about a one line comment, that did not add anything.
Yes, I have seen the plows running up and down the clear streets with their blades down plowing thin air. It is my guess they are doing what they are told, keep the main roads like 29 and 64 open. Do not go on the side streets and get stuck at night, then the boss will have to get out of bed and do their job. What ever you do, do not wake me up.
This blog looks like another example of high expectations for government services…where did that come from???lol
MMH you seem to be missing the point. Unusual circumstances? Every local business in my area was able to clear their roads and parking lots of packed snow and ice, but the city and county can’t do the same with the roads?
What is wrong with this picture? Is this what we pay (high) taxes for?
There’s some irony here. VDOT is supposed to be prepared, should have seen this coming, performed better planning. (I agree - more on that later.)
I do not cut homeowners any slack for now complaining their roads haven’t been plowed and they are running out of food. Where was your planning? News reports started on Thursday about this storm, and expectations as to the yield steadily increased.
VDOT should have their feet held to the fire as to what didn’t work. A post mortem should candidly document what did go well (Earlysville Road was unexpectedly clear Tues morning when I came into town) and what didn’t (what’s up with Hydraulic? It is a disgrace!) This must be fed into better planning for the next storm, whether it’s 6” or 20”.
But as a taxpayer, I do not agree with paying for the capacity to handle this kind of storm any old time. Unusual circumstances demand altered expectations.
I know some of those people who were up all night plowing Gordie, and they do not have a total disregard for even jerks like you.
Merkwurdigliebe at about 10:30 this morning, after I wrote my comment, I went to Albemarle Co. in the area of Fashion Square mall, other businesses and of course the back roads. This included Commonwealth and Hydraulic as well as others.
Now with sincere thought and making a jerk of myself early this morning I wish to apologize to you. What I said could be attributed to the area I live in, but certainly not Albemarle.
Traveling route 29 north and finding a car abandoned in the driving lane, I should have suspected what to find. After seeing that I said to my wife, “I can’t believe the state police or VDOT have not had that car towed out of the road”.
What I witnessed today was complete Incompetence, lack of planning, neglect to act soon enough after being told what was expected.
It was quite evident that the plows sat or worked ONLY the major highways in that entire area. When snow is caked on the roads 6-8 inches thick it shows a total lack of experience, training, planning and total disregard for the citizens they are suppose to serve.
The major side roads I traveled were completely filled with pot holes of snow anywhere from 6 to 8 inches thick. That alone says no one was on these major side roads till after the storm ended or was ready to end.
Georgetown road was a total wreck, with families and little children walking down the middle of the road between traffic.
Coming from an area where 3 to 4 storms of 12 to 24 inches a year is normal, this demonstration by VDOT is a total disgrace and is an embarrassement to the taxpayers of Albemarle County. Yes I lived close to Chicago and remember a mayor who was voted out of office because of such actions. Certainly as is mentioned later in these posts, heads should roll in VDOT and all areas that were responsible for controlling and clearing the roads of snow.
Just because this was a once in 13 year storm there is no excuse for the incompetence shown by those in charge.
And since it is a once in 13 year storm, nothing will be done, because memories are short.
I could go on about drivers, driving in snow, but that is a useless subject
Made snow ice cream, lost power Saturday so we melted snow for coffee and to do the dishes, made a decent saucer run on the hill, tried to make an igloo, brazed a trail in our 4x4 down rt. 20 to Pantops just for the fun of it…. Picked up some candles for the neighbor and some water so we wouldn’t have to melt anymore snow. Sorry to see the street grader show up on Monday, kinda ended the adventure. That darn VDOT, always messin’ up the best sledding hills…
Saltydog…Think you are getting a little carried away. The last snow we got like this was 15 years ago…happens once in a blue moon…just try to enjoy it.
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