Delmarva officials prepare residents and roads ahead of winter storm
DELMARVA – We’re still feeling the effects of this week’s storm, and it’s truly been a winter wonderland.
In Georgetown, the roads have been cleared over the past week, but snow is continuing to drift into the roads. State officials from both Maryland and Delaware tell us what these conditions can potentially cost the county.
Delaware Drivers
Director of Community Relations for Del Dot C.R. McLeod says though this week has been rough, they’ve seen minimum incidents- which he credits to his workers and safe drivers. Delaware has a storm budget of 10 million dollars, and the prep they plan to do tonight isn’t that expensive, but it is necessary.
McLeod says, “Some roads are in really good shape, but others still have that snow and ice pack on them, you’ve just got to slow down and still leave plenty of room between you and other cars in case there’s any slipping that takes place… ”
Even once we really felt like the primary roads were in good shape, route 1, routes 113 for example, then we’ve been dealing with drifting snow and having to go back out and do multiple passes again to clear that drifting that’s been occurring because that can create hazardous situations.”
McLeod is hoping the sun will shed some light on the ice in Delaware, but until then, they will do what they can. “We do have crews out putting brine, that liquid salt solution down primarily on our main roads.”
Meanwhile in Maryland
Charlie Gischlar of the Maryland State Highway Administration says the work crews put in the past few days has them better prepared.
“So, there was drifting in some of the areas, so we had to stay cognizant of that and go out and treat it almost every day we had to push something out of the way…”
He goes on to say, “We are going to bring our shops in early this evening, early evening, make sure we’re all ready. There’s enough residual salt remaining from the prior storm, so we don’t have to pre-treat.”
Maryland has a $69-million storm budget and Gischlar says it’s too early to calculate the cost of this current storm wave, but there is a way the public can help keep the cost of clean-up down.
“We still want people to try to stay home later tonight, early tomorrow, and the reason why is because it helps our crews and our contracting crews be able to more effectively and efficiently treat the roads, plow the roads, salt the roads, because when we get stuck in traffic with everybody else, it’s not effective…”
Stay Safe
Delaware and Maryland officials say they patrol for ice patches and look forward to the future forecast. Delaware Residents can visit their website for more information, and for Maryland’s winter resources, you can visit their website.
Overall, they are urging resident to only go out when needed and to drive safety.
