Snow Plow Prep: 9 Items in VDOT's Tool Belt

The first storm of the season appears ready to dump inches of snow in Loudoun County — and we haven’t made it to Thanksgiving! The Virginia Department of Transportation to ready to use several mound-moving, de-icing, snow-melting tools. But more cash is not in the tool belt.

VDOT is responsible for 17,737 lane miles in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties. Last year, the snow removal budget in northern Virginia was $63 million, but a fierce, long season cost $152 million. Time for a budget hike? How about less — $52 million this year.

The department notes that a new way of tracking costs makes up the difference and that funding for snow removal is essentially at the same level. Cue the impending super-early snow storm and predictions that this season will again be worse than the average.

Read: Winter Storm Watch in Loudoun County

Fortunately, here are 9 tools ready to tackle the snow season, as presented in the VDOT 2014 snow removal fact sheet:

1. Neighborhood plowing page: Residents are encouraged to continue using vdotplows.org to monitor the status of plowing in northern Virginia neighborhoods.
2. A jet-powered snow melter for park-n-ride lots where massive snow piles block spaces.
3. Seven high-pressure flush trucks clear snow and ice around the bollards separating the I-495 Express Lanes and regular lanes.
4. A truck-mounted weather station provides mobile measurements on road conditions (dry, moist, wet, snow, ice), as well as surface, dew point and air temperature, humidity and thickness of ice. This helps ensure that crews do not over- or under-apply chemicals.
5. Two super-sized front loaders plow interstates with 20-foot wide blades during severe storms.
6. Speed-activated anti-icing equipment puts the right amount of material on the road.
7. A super-sized salt dome at the Beltway and Van Dorn Street holding 22,000 tons – about three times the capacity of a typical dome – helps ensure that crews do not run low during severe storms.
8. Pre-treating: Crews will pre-treat 850 lane miles of trouble spots, including interstates and major roads.
9. New brine application pilot in Chantilly: This winter, crews will test an additional brine method on several roads in the Chantilly area. Crews will pre-treat the pavement with brine, plow when snow has fallen and then re-treat with brine. Read: VDOT Pilot Program Will Apply Brine Mix

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