2008.11.18
Town able to deal with unpredictable snowfall
David Clarke, administrator of the Virginia Department of Transportation's Christiansburg residency said that Monday’s forecast threw him off.
“We had crews out all night, smaller than what our normal nightshift would be just in case we did get something,” but weren’t expecting as much accumulation as the area received Monday night, Clarke said.
Clarke said that he and his staff checked the weather reports as late as they could, which gave a precipitation forecast of 30%. He sent crew members home early so that they could rest up to be prepared to work all night. They returned at 9 p.m. to prepare the trucks.
“This is one of the harder ones to fight because you can’t just send them on typical routes. It’s not a uniform snow so it really makes it hard,” Clarke said.
Clark said that since VDOT is a state organization, it is responsible for primary roads and interstate in Montgomery County outside of Christiansburg and Blacksburg.
According to the town of Christiansburg’s website, VDOT handles snow removal on the U.S. 460 Bypass from I-81 to the North Town limits and U.S. 460 Business from Cambria Street to the North Town Limits.
Town manager Lance Terpenny said Tuesday that the basic protocol for town snow removal is to handle primary roads which tend to have the most traffic first. Emphasis is also placed on “hotspots,” which tend to see accidents in these types of situations.
