Snow removal could turn political
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Snow removal could turn political
Several Roanoke County supervisors said today they would support6:15 p.m.
I talked to local Delegate and House majority leader Morgan Griffith over the phone for this story.
He said he has gotten some complaints about snow removal in Roanoke County.
Griffith said he does intend to talk about the situation once he goes back to Richmond for the 2010 legislative session, which begins in January.
Griffiith said among some of the ideas he has heard discussed are sharpening the teeth in the state contracts, which would encourage private snow removal companies to finish on time.
Another idea was to plow the shoulder of the interstate if both lanes are blocked, and allow traffic drive on the shoulder.
Griffith pointed out that driving on the shoulder in Virginia is currently illegal.
Original post:
Snow removal in our area could turn political.
Several Roanoke County supervisors said today they would support “talking” to local state legislators about the snow removal performance of VDOT and its contractors.
The Roanoke valley received a record breaking amount of snowfall for the month of December last Friday.
Some supervisors said they’ve gotten “over one hundred” calls and emails from constituents complaining about the “slow” snow removal process.
You can see more about this story tonight on WSLS 10 On Your Side beginning at 5 p.m.
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Reader Reactions
Two points I want to make on this matter:
If there is snow on the ground, and, as your driving, you see a 4-length distance between 2 cars, DO NOT cut in!! I had that happen that Fri afternoon on 220S from a red pickup truck and it was all I could do to keep from either hitting the partition or the guy behind (who was WAY too close!) from hitting me! I had to hold my breath as a gently pumped the brakes and pray it was gonna work!
And I dont understand why they werent starting to plow at that time; by 4:30 we already had at least 2 inches on the ground and driving had become dangerous. Didnt they used to do it like that some yrs ago? Especially on the main rds?
The problem wasn’t the progress made removing snow, it was the idiot drivers that went too fast, jammed their brakes & clogged the roads with wrecks. I drove from Lynchburg to Roanoke in a RWD pickup with no problems but saw dozens of 4x4 suv’s stuck. If you can’t drive in the stuff stay put & get picked up.
Earlier posts have validity and offer a different opinion. The snow was, or perhaps if you live in the county is, deep. That, however, was several days ago and not hours. Yes, other communities make us look silly but we don’t drive on ice for the winter months such as many of them do. We have a county that sends out an advance party to test for the safety of its crews. That’s good. We have a USPS that used to deliver mail in any condition but now if the snow is too close to the road we get no mail. We paid big bucks to have our snow removed to another place until it thaws but we did not get what we paid for and the leaders of the county should demand repayment for extra staff hours and unnecessary expenditures since VDOT and its contractors chose to drive the roads instead of eliminating the snow.
mwitt nailed it. Mighty easy to look out a bay window and complain. Wonder if the supervisor that received over a hundred calls took the time to ask each calller if they had ever plowed snow? A historic snow event doesn’t clean up that easy. Not when coupled with freezing and thawing. Now I can’t comment on the Interstatebut, the primary system was as well cleaned as could be hoped for. Put the whiners in a truck for a 12 hour shift and then let me hear back.
People who have complained about the slow snow removal need to get real. This was a major snow storm that would have been difficult to clean up regardless of location. I was raised in Colorado where there is much snow and I thought VDOT and the local county/city clean up efforts were commendable.
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