As reported in News & Messenger:
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine was not completely satisfied with the way Virginia’s transportation agency handled snow removal efforts after last month’s historic snowstorm.
At issue was some of the work that the Virginia Department of Transportation outsources to private contractors, he told Charlottesville TV station WVIR. He described the overall snow removal job done by VDOT as “an OK job.”
“We were not completely satisfied with the work that was being done by the private contractor. Without going into it too much, on Saturday [during the snowstorm] basically I asked VDOT to take over a good bit of that work and when that happened things started to go a lot better,” the governor told WVIR.
Kaine said he wasn’t happy with the lack of preparation for the storm or with the lack of urgency plow crews had when it came to clearing the snow from neighborhood streets.
The governor also used this opportunity to blast Republican counterparts in the state, saying that their unwillingness to raise taxes to pay for improvements in transportation led to the plow crew’s slower response time.
While many roads around the Woodbridge and Stafford areas were treated with salt and sand following the storm, others went up to three days following the storm without seeing a plow.
I feel vindicated. For years I have watched the snowplows clean the main streets over and over while ignoring the harder to clean side streets. The drivers of the plows are the contract workers, not state employees. Governor Kaine should have called me. I would have told him.
Snow removal is expensive and difficult work. It requires readiness. Hopefully the new administration will heed the words of Governor Kaine and stay ready and alert for the next snow fall. There are still places on Route 50 that have piles of snow on them. Hitting one would be like hitting a deer.
Who has some snow horror stories, now the big blow snow is finally over? And while discussing the weather, how is the temperature out there? When is this wind going to die down? I cannot seem to get warm. This cold snap should drive the energy bills up. What is the fuel of choice? I have both gas and a heat pump. Since the price of natural gas has gotten so reasonable, I am wondering if it is ever cheaper to go all case and forget the heat pump. How much is a cord of wood these days?
The county did an awful job of plowing a very main road in Gainesville (Glenkirk Rd.). They basically never plowed it down to pavement, and had only the middle plowed. It is a two lane road with curves in it, and was extremely dangerous to drive on for several days until the snow finally melted enough. This road has a speed limit of 45 mph, and there’s no excuse for the way they handled that road which serves quite a few large residential neighborhoods in Gainesville. It wasn’t until Friday evening (5 days) after the snowfall that the road actually was completely useable as a two lane road. It’s a wonder there wasn’t a major accident on it.
Correction – I meant the state (not the county) in my first sentence.
This Global Warming is killing me!!
My sister in Burlington Vermont just told me they had a record snowfall this weekend – 32.9″. Most snowfall in a single snowfall – records go back 120 years! The previous record was 29 inches back in 1969!
See http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100104/NEWS02/100103021/Vermont-snowstorm-breaks-record for the details, which goes into a lot more statistics of interest about single day snowfall totals and such. This was just in the 36 hour period from 7 AM Saturday to 7 PM Sunday that they got 32.5″. The last little bit fell outside that window (another 0.4″) later Sunday evening.