Sorry for the Fox link. These poor souls have been stuck on 95 for 15+ hours and last night temperatures dipped into the teens. There really is no excuse for this, it looks like nothing was done to put down salt or move snow. We didn't get that much snow, even here in the mountains, so I would guess that's the cause. They're saying up to a foot of snow but the only headline I saw said 5-8 inches. I used to drive up and down 95 all winter from Northern Virginia to Richmond and the only time I saw anything like this was a February snowfall when the state claimed they had run out of road chemicals. And it wasn't this bad.
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Places that historically have little snow don't invest money in snow removal. It's simple economics, as the expensive machinery would sit idle 360 days of the year. Here in East Tennessee we go for preventative measures like spraying salt sprays on roads before expected snowfalls and that seems to work most of the time.
Most of the time. 😄
But it's also true that 1 inch of snow can bring some areas to a standstill. Deep rural areas with hills and trees often don't allow enough sunshine to melt snow or ice, so we just wait it out.
Whatever machinery municipalities have to deal with snow is usually standard equipment like dump trucks and spray vehicles used other times of the year for other duties, pressed into service on snow days.
I had never heard of that and I'm in ND we have winter for four or five months of the year. Well you learn something new every day lol.
Yeah, I realize they don't have enough snow removal equipment, but the DC area does get some snow every winter. I would think it would be a priority to take care of I95 first. I saw they have a 90 mile backup on I95 that has moved very little or not at all for 15 hours. Why don't people just get off I95 and find another route to get home?
We're supposed to get 10 of snow tonight and tomorrow. Around here it's no big deal. The plows will be out on the highways keeping them open. As the snow stops they'll plow the towns, back roads and rural areas. The plow will come by, I'll grumble about it, then go out and shovel and snow blow.