ROANOKE, Va. – As the region deals with the aftermath of the recent winter storm, icy conditions continue to make travel challenging. While main roads are typically prioritized for snow removal, many back roads and parking lots remain neglected, with crews still working around the clock to make roads safe and bring conditions back to normal.
One local parking lot looked vastly different just yesterday, icy and difficult to navigate. While major highways are usually cleared fairly quickly, smaller parking lots often tend to be overlooked. That’s where commercial snowplow crews come in.
When most people think of road clearing, they often turn to VDOT or city crews to handle the heavy lifting. But for businesses, retirement homes, and parking lots, Slate Enterprise is one of several companies helping clear the way with snowplows, salt, and shoveling.
Colby Slate, co-owner of Slate Enterprise, said, “They aren’t able to pay their employees because their employees aren’t coming to work, so we are just ultimately all of us are here to help the economy go and help everyone open back up and get ready for the next one.”
This winter storm brought more of a wintry mix with both ice and snow. While the upcoming weekend may bring more snow, the treatment for clearing the roads will be different.
“The biggest difference is the ground crews with the sidewalks and whatnot. If it’s snow, we can get out our snow blowers, and it makes it a lot easier. Yesterday consisted of a lot of just scraping with shovels and a lot of manual labor, so it’s not ideal for us. It’s definitely a lot harder to take care of, but we are set up to do whatever is needed,” said Slate.
As a commercial crew, Slate Enterprise prioritizes plowing based on when businesses need it most.
“If it’s Saturday, we know some places don’t need to be touched. We have nursing homes that we know need 24-hour service, seven days of the week,” Slate added.
10 News reached out to the City of Roanoke for an update on when the roads will be fully clear. An engineer with the city’s Transportation Division expects 90-95 percent of the city to be passable by tomorrow morning.