Before the weather gets frightful, Virginia Department of Transportation crews in the Shenandoah Valley are preparing roads and resources for the forecasted snow and ice event on Sunday and early Monday.
What VDOT is doing
- Crews started early this morning with anti-icing operations on interstate and some high traveled primary roads.
- Coordination with tree contractors is complete.
- Crews have prepared chain saws and emergency generators for possible use.
- Traffic signals will be monitored for power outages
- Coordination is complete with local utility companies for emergency centers.
- Coordination is complete with local wrecker services.
- Crews will be reporting between 8 p.m. tonight and 4 a.m. tomorrow depending on geographic area and storm path.
What you can do
- Prepare to shelter in place and avoid travel if possible during the storm.
- Be prepared to lose power for a period of time.
- If travel is necessary give yourself plenty of time to arrive at your destination.
- Use Virginia’s 511 system to check for road conditions and incidents.
- Be aware of potentially icy areas such as shady spots and bridges and overpasses.
- Keep a safe distance of at least five seconds behind other vehicles and trucks that are plowing the road.
- Don’t pass a snowplow or spreader unless it is absolutely necessary. Treat these as you would emergency-response vehicles.
- If possible park in a driveway and not on the street to allow plows to come through.
- If you encounter a traffic signal out of service, the intersection is treated as a four-way stop.
How to stay informed
For winter weather road conditions go to www.511Virginia.org, look at the orange bar on the top of the page and click on “Text Views” and then click on “Road Condition Table”. Look at the pull down box that lists all jurisdictions. In this box individual counties can be chosen to view.
Traffic alerts and traveler information can be obtained by dialing 511. Traffic alerts and traveler information also are available at 511Virginia.org. For other assistance call the VDOT Customer Service Center, available 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week. Citizens can dial 1-800-FOR- ROAD (1-800-367-7623) from anywhere in the state to report road hazards, ask transportation questions, or get information related to Virginia’s roads.
The Staunton District Twitter feed is at @VaDOTStaunton. VDOT can be followed on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter andYouTube. RSS feeds are also available for statewide information. The VDOT Web page is located atwww.VirginiaDOT.org. The VDOT winter travel information page can be found here: http://www.virginiadot.org/
The VDOT Staunton District serves Frederick, Shenandoah, Clarke, Warren, Page, Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, Rockbridge, Alleghany and Bath counties.
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Chris Graham
