The District’s roads remained partially uncleared days after snow and ice fell, making driving hazardous and slow.
Piles of dirty ice lined the roads, squeezing the lanes and slowing traffic to a crawl Friday morning. The drive on 14th Street Northwest from the border to downtown D.C. took 45 minutes for some motorists.
Wisconsin Avenue in Northwest Washington was shut down for seven hours after a fatal crash early Friday morning. An early investigation indicated that speed and alcohol contributed to the incident, D.C. police said. Police had not determined if the weather had played a role.
D.C. Department of Transportation Acting Director Emeka Moneme said about 95 percent of the roads had been cleared by noon Friday.
Residents complained that their vehicles had been boxed in by the walls of snow that had been created by the city’s snow plows. The slushy snow hardened in the below-freezing temperatures, making it difficult for the vehicles to move out of their spots.
Road crews were handling complaints as they came and were no longer in full response mode, said DDOT spokesman Eric Linden. The department was gearing up for a possible snowstorm this weekend, and staff will meet next week to determine what it can do better.
“We’re satisfied with our response,” Linden said, “but there’s always a need for some improvement.”
