Over a week after this winter鈥檚 first significant snowfall, Fairfax County鈥檚 Board of Supervisors detailed plans to press Virginia鈥檚 Department of Transportation for information on what went wrong during the agency鈥檚 response.
VDOT is responsible for treating and plowing the county鈥檚 roads. After any storm that produces 6 or more inches of snow, the agency aims to have the roads cleared within 72 hours, Supervisor James Bierman said.
VDOT, though, said it hasn鈥檛 published clearance goals.
The agency clears main streets and thoroughfares from curb to curb, and makes residential streets passable, which means an 8-to-10 foot path for emergency vehicles and drivable with caution.
But during a meeting this week, several board members said the cleanup efforts varied. Some roads were clear, while others were left covered in ice.
The concerns prompted the board to have County Executive Bryan Hill ask VDOT for an after-action report of what went wrong, with a focus on planning beforehand and execution afterward. The inquiry will also ask VDOT to offer insight into how it will handle the next snow event differently, and it鈥檒l invite the transportation department to a future meeting to talk about snow removal.
鈥淩emoval worked and worked really well in a lot of the county. In other areas, it just did not work at all,鈥� Chairman Jeff McKay said. 鈥淎nd I think a lot of that is a factor of the many different contractors and the work that they do in the county.鈥�
Meanwhile, Bierman said VDOT鈥檚 website 鈥渇requently provided inaccurate information to residents and county staff alike, and efforts to get VDOT to return to certain neighborhood streets repeatedly failed.鈥�
Some residents emailed Supervisor Andres Jimenez, explaining they didn鈥檛 feel safe and said their cars were sliding around on untreated roads. He said the roads were not adequately treated.
鈥�2025 is a good year to start something really, really good,鈥� Jimenez said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 called communication.鈥�
McKay said some roads, such as Telegraph Road, were still covered with snow, while others had been taken care of, 鈥渟o that tells you that there鈥檚 a huge delta in the way those were treated and the way the contractors ran them.鈥�
He also criticized Fairfax County Public Schools鈥� decision to close for four days, saying he鈥檚 鈥渟hocked as to why we didn鈥檛 do to virtual learning.鈥� The school system has several snow days built into its calendar, so it鈥檚 still on track to meet the minimum number of school days and hours required by Virginia law.
鈥淲e’ve invested a lot of resources and money into that program, and other jurisdictions went to virtual learning, and I’d like an explanation as to why we didn’t,鈥� McKay said. 鈥淏ut I do think there are issues directly related VDOT and their performance that affect schools as well.鈥�
A spokesperson with VDOT confirmed to 海角社区app that is 鈥渁ware of and reviewing the Fairfax County Board matter. We continue to work with all of our locality partners.鈥�
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