WASHINGTON — D.C., Maryland and Virginia are all preparing for yet another round of snow removal on their respective roadways.
Parts of the D.C. region received just short of a foot of snow Monday. Now, the WUSA9 weather team has forecasted anywhere from one to three inches of snow in the DMV Thursday night.
The D.C. Department of Public Works says it plans to pretreat the roads with salt in advance of Thursday’s storm. A spokesperson for the department added it will assess weather and road conditions to determine the level of plow deployment that will be needed to successfully clear District roads and to ensure enough crews are available to cover all routes.
The Virginia Department of Transportation says it plans to pretreat its roads with brine instead sometime Thursday before the storm. VDOT said brine was not used before the storm Monday due to the rain that preceded the snow in that event. Brine, which consists of 77% salt and 23% water, according to VDOT, can wash away in wet conditions.
VDOT said it will use tanker trucks to spread that substance along Interstate 95 and primary routes, like Route 1, Thursday.
The department added that it is still working with local utility crews to access some snow-covered roads in the Commonwealth that were blocked by downed trees Monday.
VDOT said it will finalize its snow removal schedule before the storm occurs.
The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration said it started getting materials and supplies to fill its trucks for snow removal on Wednesday.
MDOT SHA crews specifically work to clear and maintain Maryland’s state numbered roadways, while local jurisdictions cover community and residential streets.
The department advised residents to telework if they can Thursday. However, if a Maryland resident must hit the roads, they are asked to log onto roads.maryland.gov, which includes a live database named the “Statewide Transportation Operations Resource Map” that identifies where MDOT SHA and contract crews have cleared roadways throughout the day.