WASHINGTON 鈥� It was predicted that the area’s highways would be a mess as people tried to resume normal activity in the wake of last weekend’s snowstorm, and the traffic conditions Wednesday bear that out.
WTOP’s Mary DePompa calls the situation “hell,” with lanes disappearing under mountains of plowed and unplowed snow. “It’s a war zone.”
Jim Battagliese, WTOP’s director of traffic and weather operations, said Tuesday that Wednesday’s rush hour could last until noon, and shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday, he noted that that the rush wasn’t over yet.
“It’s been terrible,” he says. “There are some people who have been going back to work, and the roads just can’t handle this amount of volume.”
The road crews, he says, “are making a valiant effort,” but they’re fighting “just too much snow for this region.”
Battagliese estimates that the area’s highways are聽at about half their usual capacity, and while聽the volume of cars out there is “down significantly” from a normal rush hour, it’s well more than half. “You’re seeing traffic delays just about everywhere.”
He doesn’t see a much brighter picture for Thursday. “We can have聽a normal rush hour hopefully by Friday, definitely by Monday.”
Even the governor of Virginia wasn’t immune: Gov. Terry McAuliffe conducted the first 25 minutes of his monthly hour-long “Ask the Governor” segment on WTOP over the phone as he was stuck in traffic.
WEDNESDAY MORNING’S COMMUTE聽got off to a rough start in the predawn hours as a mass聽of accidents, all involving tractor-trailer trucks, led to delays on聽some major thoroughfares.
Just after midnight on Wednesday, a tractor-trailer聽got stuck in a snowbank on the Outer Loop of the Beltway before the Dulles Toll Road, and his trailer cracked.聽It took 12 hours to clear the road.
“There’s still a lot of snow; there are still a lot of dicey situations,” DePompa says. “… It’s just a ripple effect, all the way through.”
There were three other accidents involving tractor-trailers in the early hours, which were cleared before 7.
Owing to the problems on 270, HOV restrictions were聽lifted through the morning rush hour at about 6:20 a.m.
Several of the experts from the WTOP Traffic Center saw it all coming.
鈥淭here is virtually no road or highway where all travel lanes are available,鈥� Bob Marbourg said Tuesday. 鈥淵ou cannot have a real rush hour when you have lanes that don鈥檛 exist.鈥�
Battagliese聽said on Tuesday that聽while聽many larger聽roads are down to bare pavement, that鈥檚 giving drivers 鈥渁 false聽sense of security.鈥�
People are driving聽鈥渁t highway speeds on the highway, and all of a sudden, they lose the lane they鈥檙e in because of a mountain of snow, and they just roll right over.鈥�
Marbourg said that while workers have done a great job of clearing more local聽roads, there’s more to be done. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a matter of negligence if you leave snow on the streets,” he said of local agencies. “They have to clean until all lanes are visible.鈥�
Toward that end, the National Park Service announced on Wednesday that Rock Creek Parkway would be closed in both directions between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to facilitate ongoing snow removal.
Battagliese on Wednesday recounts getting angry phone calls from motorists who are mystified by the delays, and says they should come as no surprise: “We got a historic snowstorm just a few days ago.”
WTOP’s Reada Kessler shook her head while reporting a call from an angry driver who threatened to report a snow-clearing road crew to the State of Maryland for themselves causing delays.
ON WEDNESDAY, BOB RAGER,聽of the Maryland State Highway Administration, told WTOP that聽conditions so far聽are no different from Marbourg鈥檚 and Battagliese鈥檚 descriptions.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still out there clearing. There鈥檚 still snow on lanes,” he says.
“You could be cruising along on the highway, and then before you know it you鈥檙e on slick pavement …
鈥淲e want people to pay attention to the fact that it鈥檚 still not done yet.鈥�
Lanes are disappearing abruptly under mountains of snow, especially on ramps and in merge areas, Rager says heavy equipment is out at work. 鈥淲e are still looking at a couple more days of doing this.鈥�
Roads may look good, but 鈥減eople have to expect that you鈥檙e not going to be able to just [get] out there and merge and step on the gas pedal and do 60 or 70 miles an hour. …聽This is a lot of snow by anyone鈥檚 measure, and it takes a lot of time to get rid of it.鈥�
JENNIFER McCORD, of the Virginia Department of Transportation,聽said that her crews were also expecting a rough return to work for many people in the area.
鈥淲e are expecting … a pretty slow commute,鈥� she told WTOP Wednesday morning. 鈥淭here are a lot of people going back to work, and certainly the potential for crashes.鈥� She also advises to watch for re-freezing, and the abrupt disappearance of lanes.
鈥淭here are definitely some remnants of the blizzard out there,鈥� McCord said. 鈥淯se caution; slow down this morning. 鈥� We鈥檙e still going to have crews out throughout the week widening the lanes [and] pushing the snow back.鈥�
On Tuesday, McCord had said that 40 percent of the roads in Northern Virginia鈥檚 subdivisions hadn鈥檛 been cleared. On Wednesday, she said that in the last 24 hours, crews had taken heavy equipment off the primary and secondary roads and into the subdivisions 鈥渢o try to get a pass for everyone overnight.鈥� She allowed as how 鈥渢hat lane will not be perfect, of course.鈥�
If you still haven鈥檛 gotten a pass from a snowplow, she says, call the hotline at 1-800-367-ROAD.
IN THE DISTRICT,聽Mayor Muriel Bowser asked residents and business owners on Tuesday to shovel their walks and to help the city out by clearing fire hydrants and sewer drains — “you know where they are” — to clear paths from聽bus stops to the street.
Bowser said more equipment was coming to the city, including a second snow melter. D.C. public schools were set to re-open Wednesday, though absences would be excused.
The snow emergency in the District ends at 6:30 p.m.
RESIDENTS ACROSS THE AREA continue to report streets that haven’t been plowed. The numbers to call:
D.C.
. See .
MARYLAND
County Roads Departments across Maryland:
Maryland State Highway Administration:聽Report highway emergencies: 1-800-543-2515
Anne Arundel County:聽.
Charles County: 301-932-3450 or 1-888-460-SNOW
Frederick County, Maryland: 301-600-1564
City of Frederick:
Prince George鈥檚 County: 311 or submit
Montgomery County: or call 311
VIRGINIA
Virginia Department of Transportation:聽 800-367-7623 or email novainfo@vdot.virginia.gov. See.
Alexandria: .
Arlington County: Submit a report 聽or call 703-228-6485
Fairfax County: Report snow issues to Chair Sharon Bulova鈥檚 office at 703-324-2321 orchairman@fairfaxcounty.gov.
