I thought the following would be useful. ---Keith
Hello - The Supervisor wants you to be aware of the below information and tips that VDOT has provided to assist them in their snow removal efforts –
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is responsible for snow removal and road repairs for public roads in Fairfax County. VDOT has a new customer service center and can be reached at 1-800-367-ROAD (7623) or novainfo@vdot.virginia.gov. Following are some of VDOT’s snow and ice helpful hints and what you can do to help:
1. Stay off the roads the best you can…….packed snow and ice is hard to remove and if you stay in, it helps us get our mainlines and secondary’s complete so we can move into subdivisions.
2. Remove your vehicles from the street or designate parking on a side so we can effectively plow.
3. When our plows come through we are going to fill in your driveway…….shovel to the right coming out of garage and know that our plows always push to the right. I also will dig out a 10 foot area to the left as well to avoid a re-fill when we come through.
4. We are pre-staging more equipment this year…..please don’t assume that the truck you see sitting is not working or on stand-by.
5. When possible assign one community leader to make the calls for their HOA…….we are consumed with calls and often numerous per street. This would help reaction times and call-backs.
6. We are not taking complaints until the area manager notifies that the subdivision is 90% complete….. Then our call centers will begin logging complaints and reporting them to the area headquarters.
7. We perform anti-icing on many bridges and main routes like Braddock and 123. Those are the white lines you see on our roadways. You’ll see this prior to possible events.
8. So each community knows, Fairfax has added nearly 600 more trucks to help plow…this will help response times. Our goal is to have at least one truck assigned to a subdivision from the onset of a major event.
9. We have also added more eyes on the road……this year we have added more monitors to help supervise our hired equipment both on the main roads and many subdivisions.
10. What kind of service should you expect? We plan for a less than 2 inch storm and above a 2 inch storm. When the storm is small (less than 2 inches) we only treat (with sand) the hotspots within the community. Mostly these are hills, major curves or intersections. Our staff has identified these areas and treats them accordingly. Once we have 2 inches or more you will see a truck assigned to your subdivision and more to come once we finish other priorities. We have been through each subdivision in Fairfax and rated each one based on size, difficulty, and the numbers of difficult areas within the subdivision. We also considered schools and other community essentials when rating as well.
11. In major events heavy equipment is called in and the process slows down drastically. This equipment doesn’t move snow and ice as fast. Please be patient.
Deborah J. Wisoff
Senior Administrative Aide
Supervisor Smyth's Office
Providence District
703-560-6946
703-698-4820 Direct
FAX 703-207-3541
