Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Just as agencies like the Virginia Department of Transportation, Maryland State Highway Administration, and D.C. Department of Public Works were getting into spring mode with lawn mowing, tree trimming, and drain work, it’s back to the plows, brine, and salt with the upcoming storm Monday night into Tuesday morning.
“This would be our first plowable storm, our first plows-down storm of the year,” VDOT spokeswoman Ellen Kamilakis told WMAL. “We don’t push snow until we get at least two inches.”
Most forecasts indicate reaching that threshold should not be a problem. Models have begun coalescing around the probability of around 6-8 inches for the immediate D.C. metro area, with wide variations on either side of the Beltway – less to the south and east, down to about two inches, and more to the north and west, with the possibility of eight or more inches.
“We’re ready. We’re happy with whatever comes down the pike,” Kamilakis said.
Maryland, D.C., and Virginia’s plans for this storm all begin with brine, which crews started laying down over the weekend.
“That helps prevent snow and ice from binding to the asphalt within the first hour or two of the storm,” Kamilakis said. “Once the storm starts, that hour or two window from the brine gives us the ability to pass the go-ahead around to everyone to start plowing.”
In Maryland, State Highways spokesman Charlie Gischlar said the fact that the storm is coming so late in the season should work in their favor.
“The great thing about this time of the year is that the sun angle is so steep in mid-March,” he said. “It makes the salt work very effectively.”
Clearing all state roads should not be a long-term operation, Gischlar said.
“We should get a good handle on this and have everything pretty mobile, maybe up to six hours (after the storm ends), we should have most lanes wide open.”
The District has been laying down brine since the end of Monday’s morning commute, but the real work starts Monday evening.
“This event will likely start with rain, so we will deploy our crews at 7pm. They will be on the roads starting at 7 this evening,” D.C.’s Department of Public Works Director Christopher Shorter told WMAL. “We will be working throughout the night to respond to snow.”
D.C. also allows you to track its plows through GPS technology, available on its website, snow.dc.gov.
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