Virginia is examining its snow and ice policies to fix what went wrong after an ice storm Tuesday paralyzed the Washington region’s highwaysystem and kept some motorists stuck for five hours.
When freezing rain began to accumulate at the start of rush hour, the ensuing dozens of accidents devastated major arteries and left agencies throughout the region reassessing the adequacy of their response.
“This was a perfect storm with the type of freezing that took place, the time of day it hit and the lack of advance notice that would have allowed a better response,” Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner David S. Ekern said.
The state is creating a team of 12 salt trucks and four liquid magnesium trucks to be stationed at the Springfield Mixing Bowl when ice is forecast.
Even at full strength, the Virginia State Police and Maryland Highway Administration struggled to clear key roads facing dangerous, icy conditions at their busiest time. The Mixing Bowl, a key interchange, was shut after a series of crashes on slick ramps.
The evening, day and overnight crews of the Virginia State Police combined to battle the accidents that snagged traffic at the Mixing Bowl on the Capital Beltway and Interstates 95 and 395.
“The problem is, we were outnumbered,” spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. Troopers often were working 40 accident reports with another 15 crashes pending attention.
“We had every available piece of equipment in our arsenal out before the storm started [Tuesday],” Maryland State Highway Administration spokesman David Buck said. “People’s expectations need to be realistic, and they’re not.”
The National Weather Service came under fire for being to slow to announce winter weather warnings to the east and south of the District of Columbia.
Although freezing rain was forecast for the region, the advisories and warnings were issued just before the roads began to ice.
“[Tuesday], what happened is the colder air was a little slower to leave the area,” meteorologist Brandon Peloquin said. “We didn’t have any advisories or warnings, but we did have that freezing rains were likely.”
The damage was most prevalent on bridges and overpasses, but also caused the closure of the 12th Street Tunnel in the District.
Despite that closure, D.C. roads were largely in good shape because the roads were salted Tuesday morning. The storm reaffirmed the policy of coating roads with salt even when predictions of icy weather are far from certain, spokeswoman KarynLeBlanc said.
“D.C. is on the precipice where sometimes it rains, sometimes it ices,” LeBlanc said. “We just can’t take the chance and say, ‘Oh, we’ll wait.’ ”
Jeanette Der Bedrosian contributed to this report.
