County: Snowplow Down Every Road By Wednesday Morning

ROCKVILLE, MD — County Executive Ike Leggett visited the Bethesda snow operation depot and pledged Tuesday that all neighborhood streets in Montgomery County should receive a least one pass from a snowplow by 7 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27.

The Montgomery County 311 phone number for non-emergency government services has been swamped with ten times the normal level of calls, and some calls are not getting through, officials said.

MC311 is Montgomery County’s hotline for government information and service requests. Operators for the system cannot tell residents an exact time they will see snowplows on their street.

To see the progress of snow plows in your area, go to the county’s snow plow tracker and create a service request if your road has not been plowed.

“Despite the historic snowfalls we have received, our county road crews have been working hard and smart 24/7 since the snow stooped to clear our roads and get people back to work and kids back to school,” said Leggett.

“Given the progress we have made, I believe that every neighborhood road should be passable by 7 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27. That means that they should have received at least one pass from a plow and residents should be able to get out of their neighborhood,” he said.

Leggett emphasized that this would not necessarily mean streets would be cleared to bare pavement and reminded residents that crews would continue to work around-the-clock to improve street conditions and handle any missed streets.

After 7 a.m. Wednesday, residents who have missed streets should report them on the County’s Snow Operations Map or go to www.mc311.com.

“Let us remember that our work is ongoing,” Leggett added.” We still have a lot of snow piled up impeding traffic flow on the county’s streets. Pedestrian access remains difficult. There are plenty of challenges ahead and the work will go on until we are wholly back to normal.”

311 System Flooded With Calls

The 311 system has been operating around the clock since opening at 6 a.m. Friday and has handled thousands of resident questions and requests.

On Monday, the system received 24,915 calls, representing more than ten times the 2,000 calls received during a normal day. Between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Tuesday, 2,264 calls were received in 30 minutes — more calls in a single half hour than the system normally handles in an entire day.

Callers seeking to reach 311 are urged to dial the full number: 240-777-0311 during busy periods, or to file a service request online.

The county highway department said on Twitter that residents SHOULD NOT call 9-1-1 to ask about snow plow efforts.

“Crews continue to work through many neighborhoods in the County. There are 217 plowing districts. Over half have been started. Hang tight,” the department said Monday afternoon.