Crews up before sunrise to clear roads after Monday’s winter storm

DELMARVA – Monday’s snow storm left drivers busy on Tuesday morning, getting their cars ready for the roads by scraping ice off of them and digging out their tires.

Crews in Delaware were also hard at work before sunrise, taking advantage of fewer drivers on the road.

“It gives our plows a chance to really just hit those roads, continue plowing and salting, getting into neighborhoods and subdivisions today,” CR McLeod, with the Delaware Department of Transportation, said.

McLeod says his crews were out salting roads, plowing snow out of the lanes, all in attempt to make sure roads are safe. But the work actually started before the storm even hit.

“With a storm of that magnitude coming in with the snowfalls we received, we had crews beginning at 3 a.m. yesterday loading trucks, deploying our plows to various points around Sussex County,” he said.

Maryland roads crews were also hard at work on Tuesday.

“What we have them doing is just pushing back the shoulders and turn lanes that are usually last to see the detailing and the final cleanup,” Shantee Felix with MDOT said.

Felix says while the crews can tackle the snow, ice presents another challenge on days following a winter storm.

“Quite honestly, there’s really not as much that we can do with ice that we can do with snow,” she said. “Re-freezing is definitely a concern, and we saw that this morning from last night and overnight.”

So while conditions are expected to improve throughout the day on Tuesday, crews in both Maryland and Delaware agree: if you don’t have anywhere to be, stay off the roads.

“Our message is just to stay off the roads if you can, and to give our crews the distance and the space they need for the snow removal and treating the slick spots that we see in the area,” Felix said.

Felix adds that anyone interested in updates on MDOT and where the plows are at any given time can visit their website.