Tuesday marks the first day of winter, and that means VDOT crews are preparing for snow. They have spent the past year stockpiling chemicals and making sure equipment is ready to go. Each year VDOT gets a maintenance budget, and a portion of that is set aside for snow removal.
In Southwest and Central Virginia, the budget is about $16.8 million for the year. That number is set by previous winters and historical data. In the fall, VDOT does a test run to make sure they are well prepared to clear the roads when the first snowfall hits.
“We do have our stockpiles of chemicals ready to go. Our snow budgets are ready. Our employees are good to go. We have got our contractors lined up. So, we are definitely ready to head into winter weather season,” said Jason Bond, VDOT spokesperson.
VDOT has an online snowplow tracker tool that allows you to find out where plows have been, as well as where they are headed when it snows.
In Roanoke City, VDOT held a training day in the fall for employees. They went over the basics of snow removal, drove the different routes, and made sure anyone who is new was prepared. The budget for the city is a couple hundred thousand dollars. This covers things like salt and overtime for employees. If there is a significant amount of snow, then the city gets contingency funds.
This year, the city has new brine stations to help de-ice the roads.
“Instead of making brine the old fashion manual way, we have got an automated system called Accubrine and that will make sure the brine is exactly the 23.3% solidity that we need it to be,” said Dwayne Dardenne, the transportation division manager for Roanoke City.
Roanoke City has just over 65 vehicles to help with snow removal. This includes dump trucks, brine tanks, and plows.