Complaints aired at Snow Summit
Several members of the Board of Supervisors complained about unplowed streets in subdivisions. Mason Supervisor Penny Gross, for example, said Championship Drive (Near Little River Turnpike and Hummer Road) was not passable for days, while smaller side streets nearby were plowed. Supervisor Jeff McKay of the Lee District questioned why parking lots at golf courses and recreation centers were plowed before many streets. Braddock Supervisor John Cook said he received 1,500 complaints and calls, noting that some people were snowed in for as many as nine days.
“Given the nature of the storm, you guys did a fabulous job,” Dranesville Supervisor John Foust told VDOT officials, “but we need to raise the bar for the next storm.”
Branco Vlacich, VDOT’s assistant district administrator for maintenance, cited several areas that could have been done better, including training and oversight of contractors working in subdivisions, VDOT’s reporting process and mapping system, and obtaining enough heavy equipment for deep snow. He suggested that helicopters would be helpful in monitoring road conditions.
Vlacich said high-volume roads get first priority – interstates first, followed by major thoroughfares, then neighborhood streets. Streets in subdivisions are plowed when there is at least two inches of snow. The goal is to make roads “passable” by clearing an eight to 10-foot-wide path with the snow packed down, rather than plowed to the bare pavement. Hills, curves, and intersections are sanded for traction.
According to Vlacich, the VDOT measures that worked well include advance planning and mobilization of equipment. VDOT borrowed 500 pieces of equipment from other locations, including New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
VDOT is still working on clearing downed trees and fixing potholes. Since March 1, VDOT has filled in more than 7,000 potholes in Fairfax County, using special machines called “pothole killers.” You can report a pothole problem online. McKay recommended citizens be given more detailed guidance on when they should expect debris to be moved and potholes fixed.
Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer for, said he received a lot of complaints about unplowed sidewalks and bus stops and snow piled up on the roofs of buses.
Board chair Sharon Bulova said Fairfax County Public Schools and PTAs did a good job getting information to parents about school closures and the need for volunteers to shovel sidewalks and bus stops, but the county needs a better way to get information out to residents. The county sends messages to the community associations, but that doesn’t reach everybody. [Here’s an idea – make better use of community blogs.]
Deputy County Executive Robert Stalzer said some of the major problems he heard about were uncleared sidewalks, price gouging by towing contractors, inadequate signs identifying snow emergency routes, and power outages. He says about 200,000 Dominion customers lost power during the first storm, and another 23,000 were affected by outages during the second storm. Some people had no power for as long as four days.
While VDOT is responsible for most roadways, the county is responsible for clearing snow around its 118 building complexes and 81 neighborhood roadways. Stalzer estimates the county’s clean-up costs are $2.5 million for the first winter snowstorm and $8 million for the February storms, but FEMA should pay for much of that.
Del. Vivian Watts shared a letter to Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton signed by 27 members of the House and Senate from Northern Virginia outlining “serious concerns” with VDOT’s response. These included the failure to plow many neighborhood streets; inadequate equipment, such as small trucks with plows unable to handle deep snow; insufficient contractor oversight, accountability, and training; lack of coordination with county and school officials; and the need to use GPS technology and to do a better job of tracking response times.
The letter says legislators heard complaints from residents who wanted to hire contractors to plow their streets but were told by VDOT it was illegal. People also complained about VDOT using front-end loaders to pile snow from streets onto already-cleared sidewalks.
The public officials talked so much, there was only time for two members of the public to offer comments at the summit (although more than 100 people submitted comments online). One person said the clean-up efforts neglected pedestrians’ needs, and another mentioned a huge pile of snow next to a major intersection blocking driver’s visibility.
5 responses to “Complaints aired at Snow Summit”
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Thanks for that very well done report. I wanted to go but was unable to attend. Should I be surprised that you report the following: "The public officials talked so much, there was only time for two members of the public to offer comments at the summit (although more than 100 people submitted comments online)."?
There are a number of areas ripe for improvement and it is good to see officials are cognizant of many. Some of them (like failure to plow streets and apparent issues with VDOT's mapping system) should not have been issues. Others like not having enough heavy equipment for this record snow season are things that they should just note and move on.
There were two items I found troubling in your report.
1) "The goal is to make roads “passable” by clearing an eight to 10-foot-wide path with the snow packed down, rather than plowed to the bare pavement. Hills, curves, and intersections are sanded for traction."
There were a number of roads that were not passable despite being plowed because there was either still too much snow/slush (I got stuck for the first time in my 30 years of driving on a level part of Murray Lane) or because after a day of driving/thawing/refreezing the road became a sheet of ice (packed down) but impassible because the sand was either missing or inadequate. I think for extraordinary circumstances (like the amount of snow and persistent cold temps), you sometimes need to adjust your strategy. Many (too many) roads were simply not passable for days, even if plowed. That is a safety issue.
2) VDOTs…lack of coordination with county and school officials;
Post 9-11, this should not be an issue. The structures should be in place for this kind of coordination to be second nature. This really scares me.
A storm of that magnitude, everyone should have expected unusual problems, this in Virginia not Minnesota,if they did not use front end loaders in some sub-divisions, those areas would not been paasable,everyone has a "me first attitude" everyone wants to assign blame for the weather, it happened.
In order to have the streets bare pavement, you will need to have at least 4-5 plow & speader trucks in each subdivision on standby. Then we are talking some serious money issues. Get Real. Sometimes the trucks couldn't get to some of streets. After they open up the main arteries they will get to you. & when they do a lot of the drivers got threatened. What about the sidewalks? Where exactly do you want it? Maybe each driver should get out & knock on each door & ask. Because your neighbor doesn't care, just get it off of the street. It has to go somewhere. Can't please everyone. Trying to make it safe for the majority of the traveling public. If your Street in your sub-division is open…What are you going to do when you get out of there if nothing else is open? Think about it. And about the Hill, curve, & intersection thing… Where in this wonderful state is there not at least two of the three? Need less contractors & more employees that know how to handle this. Look at the clean up after. Ethics,Pride.Knowledge. It all has it's price.
It would also help if people got their cars off the street and into their driveways so the plows can actually get down the streets. There was a minivan parked halfway into our street making it hard for any plow to come down the street after the snow stopped.
Seriously, when we have two storms of a lifetime back to back, can we really expect perfection from VDOT? I for one am NOT for using govt funds to keep so many plows in reserve. When these things hit you have to realize what an "act of God" is, stay home, and deal with it. They only happen once every 30 years or so, and boy do they make Al Gore look like a complete idiot.
Modern society wants instant gratification. I had no problem taking a few days off and spending them with the kids. The Federal Govt even had the common sense to shut down giving its' employees FREE time to sit home and get paid. Not a bad deal.