Virginia Car Buried in Snow December 2009

WARNING:  Temperatures this morning are in the teens.  Roads are treacherous. 12/21/09 (7 am)

VDOT, our state transportation overlord with those bright orange trucks, rules supreme right now.  It is they who determine who gets plowed and who doesn’t.  They can be found at http://www.virginiadot.org/default_flash.asp  VDOT has announced that some neighborhoods will not be plowed until Wednesday night.  Wednesday night?!

The cities like Manassas and Manassas Park have their own snow removal.  The county relies on VDOT and those road jockies who are out riding the trucks, plows and tractors  scrapping, dropping, sprinkling , spreading and barricading us back in our driveways. 

Poor Westgate has had very little plowing since Saturday during the storm.  It is obvious.  Entire blocks can be driven without seeing pavement.  Sudley,  meanwhile, has been plowed.  There are a few rough spots but there are single lane paths through nearly every street.  Sudley Manor and Strasburg, on the other hand, have been scraped clean.  Why can’t those trucks who have made 20 trips up and down Sudley Manor Drive (yea right, snow emergency route…that’s the ticket) go over and take a few swipes at the Westgate roads that look like a white, wintery moon scape? 

This is chronic waste and happens every snow storm.  Many of these drivers are contracted and simply are putting in time on the course of least resistance.   Where is the oversight?  Who is issuing the job orders?  Westgate people should be furious!   Hopefully they will give VDOT the good ripping they deserve.

Meanwhile, Prince William County Schools apparently think they can wiggle their respective noses and have all their snow removal taken care of.  With the VDOT statement about Wednesday night, how does the county think roads will be clear enough to get kids to school by Wednesday?  How about Tuesday?  How will they clean their lots for 80 schools?  PWCS needs to accept the reality of the situation.  They will save money and earn some good will with parents, kids, and staff by simply closing until after the holidays.  Mother Nature can handle the snow removal until January.   They need to announce today, so people can plan.

This situation is where our supervisors and school board members could make a real impact.  I would love to see each  of them riding around in some of the county SUV’s surveying the road situation, checking out the school parking lots,checking neighborhood sidewalks,  and checking the neighborhoods in their districts.  They could make a huge difference.  I feel certain that a VDOT call from one of them would have more impact than your rank and file citizen.