Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 4, 1993 TAG: 9304020250
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SNOW REMOVERS FAILED TO DO THEIR JOB
We have a right to expect an honest attempt at snow removal. I am convinced we are paying for a service we are not getting.When I realized that the manpower and equipment of Montgomery County totaled 60 units, I concluded that we were needlessly snowbound. For the three counties of Montgomery, Pulaski and Giles, there were 146 snow-clearing pieces of equipment to be used and 1,400 miles of roads to be cleared (approximately 9.5 miles per unit).
While the snow removal crews might have been on the job, they weren't doing the job! They were running the roads Friday, March 12, 10 or 12 hours prior to the storm. However, once the snow started to accumulate, the snow plows had nested one to three to a nest in various out-of-the-way places.
Saturday the 13th around 2:30 a.m., approximately six to eight inches of snow had accumulated when one of these rare birds (snow plows) traversed the Montgomery County end of Route 114 (one of the most traveled roads in the county). By Sunday morning, the 14th, only a narrow path had been plowed on Walton Road.
As Sunday morning turned into Monday morning, the 15th, a two-blade grader (followed by a snowplow with its blade up, and it followed by a state-owned pickup truck) scraped the road two feet wider. Five hours later, the same three pieces came back the other way, creating another two foot swath.
The snow removal was complicated by so many vehicles stuck in snow drifts and ditches. The irony of this is that had the plows been on the roads prior to the substantial accumulation and drifting, the vehicles would not have fallen victim to the deep snow.
The inefficiency of road clearing cost the local businesses considerably, not to mention extending the school year.\ D. Frith\ Radford