The Virginia Department of Transportation is paying close attention to the forecast and preparing for what could be a significant icing event Wednesday night into Thursday.
VDOT is currently mobilizing its equipment and resources in preparation for the first winter weather event of the season.
Rain throughout Virginia is forecasted to shift to sleet and freezing rain around 10 p.m. on Wednesday. The weather event is expected to impact the Shenandoah Valley, Central and Northern Virginia, and surrounding areas.
Crews will not apply liquid pretreatment to roads in areas where the event is forecasted to start as rain, which will wash away the pretreatment application.
Crews are preparing equipment and will be ready to treat roadways with salt, sand and abrasives as precipitation transitions to sleet or freezing rain.
VDOT encourages drivers to pay attention to weather forecasts and to delay travel on Thursday morning, especially along the I-81 corridor, Culpeper and Northern Virginia regions.
VDOT has made several improvements statewide for the 2022-23 winter weather season. The improvements were in response to a performance audit by the State Inspector General and action reports by CAN.
The improvements include:
- Improved contracting to be more flexible, competitive and attractive to contractors to address equipment and personnel shortages
- Improved communications and command structure for better internal and interagency cooperation during crisis events
- Assigned staff to drive routes and report on conditions to supplement traffic cameras
- Acquired a system to allow two-way communications between drivers and VDOT within a defined geographic area
- Continued participation in winter weather exercises, led by The Virginia Department of Emergency Management, to foster interagency cooperation.
In addition to operational improvements, VDOT maintains a number of resources for inclement weather:
- $220 million statewide budgeted for winter weather in 2022-2023
- 11,493 pieces of equipment (VDOT-owned and contracted equipment combined, as of Nov. 30)
- Approximately 1,148 vehicle contracts in process, and is continuing to receive additional contract bids (as of Nov. 30)
- More than 696,000 tons of salt, sand and treated abrasives, and more than 2.3 million gallons of liquid calcium chloride and salt brine.
For up-to-date road conditions, visit 511virginia.org, call 511 or get road and traffic conditions on the 511 Virginia mobile app.
To report hazardous road conditions, the public may contact (800) FOR-ROAD or visit my.vdot.virginia.gov
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Crystal Graham
