I95 Richmond to the Beltway people suck in cars for 17 plus hours

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why they didn't pre-treat 95/495.

I get that no one believed the snow would stick due to the warm temps, especially so much of it. But I drove on it Sunday night around 8pm, and there was no pre treatment on the highway whatsoever. Nada.

VDOT has stated that they couldn’t pre-treat the roads because this storm started as rain and everything would’ve washed away.

I don't believe that. There was never pouring rain. Temps fell fast, and it was light freezing rain and sleet before switching to snow. I don't think VDOT believed the weather forecasts like most of us. It was dry when I drove home Sunday night, and there was no pre treatment anywhere, so they didn't even try.

"Not believing" facts do not make them untrue. We had hours of rain before snowfall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tim Kaine is among those still stuck!

Why can’t they land a helicopter and rescue him? He’s a senator FFS!!!

Prob a bad look if he gets helo-ed out and thousands of regular ppl remain stuck?

He said he declined the Governors offer for special assistance...which was the correct choice.

The "only" choice, really.

[Anonymous]

I can't believe this is still going on. Can you imagine being stuck that long with little kids in the car? It's been almost 24 hours with no opportunity to get food, water, or go to the bathroom (other than in the snow). What a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a swift fix to a major snowstorm from a state that, at this point, rarely gets major snowstorms. And people should have stayed off the roads.

But I do feel very bad for these people. What can they do? Can they call in the national guard or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tim Kaine is among those still stuck!

Why can’t they land a helicopter and rescue him? He’s a senator FFS!!!

Prob a bad look if he gets helo-ed out and thousands of regular ppl remain stuck?

He said he declined the Governors offer for special assistance...which was the correct choice.

The "only" choice, really.

He’s a very decent person and he would never accept special treatment like that. It’s a nonstarter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a swift fix to a major snowstorm from a state that, at this point, rarely gets major snowstorms. And people should have stayed off the roads.

But I do feel very bad for these people. What can they do? Can they call in the national guard or something?

Aside from trucks, I don’t get why so many people were driving then.

[Anonymous]

So all the exits are closed too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a swift fix to a major snowstorm from a state that, at this point, rarely gets major snowstorms. And people should have stayed off the roads.

But I do feel very bad for these people. What can they do? Can they call in the national guard or something?

Aside from trucks, I don’t get why so many people were driving then.

It's not "so many people." It's essential workers driving slowly, and the traffic builds up until it stops because no one can go anywhere. Not everyone can WFH, you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, more people should have listened to the weather forecast and stayed off the road. Pre-treatment applications aren't designed to accommodate near regular traffic flows through a winter storm. It was snowing too heavily and there were too many cars/trucks on the road. It only took a few tractor trailer spinouts for chaos to ensue.

This. Plus, this was a mess all the way into DC - people couldn't make it up the incline of the exit to 210 (I think?) near DC. Then it's just a chain reaction, plows can't get through and everyone is stuck.

+1
There were just too many people on the road, and it was clear early on that the snow was heavy. It only takes one or two accidents and there's not much anyone can do to resolve it quickly. I honestly don't know why so many people were out -- the schools were all closed, the federal government was closed, I'm sure many other offices who follow the feds were closed, too -- what were all those people doing? Everyone knows that Virginia isn't used to handling that kind of snowstorm because it's not common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a swift fix to a major snowstorm from a state that, at this point, rarely gets major snowstorms. And people should have stayed off the roads.

But I do feel very bad for these people. What can they do? Can they call in the national guard or something?

Aside from trucks, I don’t get why so many people were driving then.

It's not "so many people." It's essential workers driving slowly, and the traffic builds up until it stops because no one can go anywhere. Not everyone can WFH, you know.

I’m referring to the families and other non-essential people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a swift fix to a major snowstorm from a state that, at this point, rarely gets major snowstorms. And people should have stayed off the roads.

But I do feel very bad for these people. What can they do? Can they call in the national guard or something?

Aside from trucks, I don’t get why so many people were driving then.

This was not some historically large volume of snow like some of the other precedents (Snowmaggeddon, the Blizzard of 1978.) The lack of any effective response yesterday, as this was happening, makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a swift fix to a major snowstorm from a state that, at this point, rarely gets major snowstorms. And people should have stayed off the roads.

But I do feel very bad for these people. What can they do? Can they call in the national guard or something?

Aside from trucks, I don’t get why so many people were driving then.

It's not "so many people." It's essential workers driving slowly, and the traffic builds up until it stops because no one can go anywhere. Not everyone can WFH, you know.

I’m referring to the families and other non-essential people.

That's not the majority of people. A few families trying to get home from winter break trips, but most people stuck were people that had to be out. Delivery people, contractors, grocery store employees, in-person workers, healthcare professionals, etc. "Essential" is actually a very big group of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tim Kaine is among those still stuck!

Why can’t they land a helicopter and rescue him? He’s a senator FFS!!!

Prob a bad look if he gets helo-ed out and thousands of regular ppl remain stuck?

He said he declined the Governors offer for special assistance...which was the correct choice.

Tim Kaine is a class act through and through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a swift fix to a major snowstorm from a state that, at this point, rarely gets major snowstorms. And people should have stayed off the roads.

But I do feel very bad for these people. What can they do? Can they call in the national guard or something?

Aside from trucks, I don’t get why so many people were driving then.

This was not some historically large volume of snow like some of the other precedents (Snowmaggeddon, the Blizzard of 1978.) The lack of any effective response yesterday, as this was happening, makes no sense.

It was a large amount of snow.

I’ve lived here for 20+ years and don’t recall ever having speedy, efficient snow removal.

[Anonymous]

^ it’s VA, not NY state