APS VA Snow Day Projection

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who commuted to work this morning, how was traffic in and around Arlington?

I commuted last week too. It's fine. It's slower going at some intersections that aren't the right amount of lanes and/or a turn lane isn't cleared. Just allow extra time and it's fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that would help considerably is much more aggressive salting before during and after the event. This area doesn’t do that.

Because 80% of the time we have rain which washes it all to the Bay.

Yes, I understand the reason we don't use the salt. This stuff is a tradeoff. Possibly when the severity of the event is known and predicted well ahead of time (as this was) and the tricky conditions are known well ahead of time in terms of removal (as this was) well maybe they make a different calculation. Or maybe not.

My thought is only I don't think discussion should be shouted down and nobody is supposed to ask questions or have any critical thought.

Salting the roads in advance only works in certain circumstances.

More aggressive salting would have helped overall in this situation. But they also have to have the salt, somewhere to store the salt, and the proper vehicles to dump the salt.

Temps were too low.

There are products beyond rock salt that can push effectiveness into colder temps. It's silly to debate this just google the topic if interested. You really think some of these colder areas in the US do not face this issue and have solutions? Of course they do.

They don't even bother with salt (except perhaps on stairs) in colder areas. They plow or shovel and that's it. You just deal with snow being present.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that would help considerably is much more aggressive salting before during and after the event. This area doesn’t do that.

Because 80% of the time we have rain which washes it all to the Bay.

Yes, I understand the reason we don't use the salt. This stuff is a tradeoff. Possibly when the severity of the event is known and predicted well ahead of time (as this was) and the tricky conditions are known well ahead of time in terms of removal (as this was) well maybe they make a different calculation. Or maybe not.

My thought is only I don't think discussion should be shouted down and nobody is supposed to ask questions or have any critical thought.

Salting the roads in advance only works in certain circumstances.

More aggressive salting would have helped overall in this situation. But they also have to have the salt, somewhere to store the salt, and the proper vehicles to dump the salt.

Temps were too low.

There are products beyond rock salt that can push effectiveness into colder temps. It's silly to debate this just google the topic if interested. You really think some of these colder areas in the US do not face this issue and have solutions? Of course they do.

The other areas of US buy a fleet of heavy snow moving equipment, dump trucks, bobcat plows, to manage the snow. We aren’t going to make that investment for snow every 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that would help considerably is much more aggressive salting before during and after the event. This area doesn’t do that.

Because 80% of the time we have rain which washes it all to the Bay.

Yes, I understand the reason we don't use the salt. This stuff is a tradeoff. Possibly when the severity of the event is known and predicted well ahead of time (as this was) and the tricky conditions are known well ahead of time in terms of removal (as this was) well maybe they make a different calculation. Or maybe not.

My thought is only I don't think discussion should be shouted down and nobody is supposed to ask questions or have any critical thought.

Salting the roads in advance only works in certain circumstances.

More aggressive salting would have helped overall in this situation. But they also have to have the salt, somewhere to store the salt, and the proper vehicles to dump the salt.

Temps were too low.

There are products beyond rock salt that can push effectiveness into colder temps. It's silly to debate this just google the topic if interested. You really think some of these colder areas in the US do not face this issue and have solutions? Of course they do.

They don't even bother with salt (except perhaps on stairs) in colder areas. They plow or shovel and that's it. You just deal with isnow being present.

It’s less here because we do have temperature oscillate around freezing, which then melts and refreezes often, so need salt to keep refreeze away from transport surfaces

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who commuted to work this morning, how was traffic in and around Arlington?

I commuted last week too. It's fine. It's slower going at some intersections that aren't the right amount of lanes and/or a turn lane isn't cleared. Just allow extra time and it's fine.

Were you driving a bus? I was surprised how bad the turn from Lorcom to Sprout Run was — its tight and slush is in middle of lane as you turn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who commuted to work this morning, how was traffic in and around Arlington?

I commuted last week too. It's fine. It's slower going at some intersections that aren't the right amount of lanes and/or a turn lane isn't cleared. Just allow extra time and it's fine.

Were you driving a bus? I was surprised how bad the turn from Lorcom to Sprout Run was — its tight and slush is in middle of lane as you turn.

Yes, I drive a bus to get to my job. Thanks for asking.

WTF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could go help clear the lots instead of armchair quarterbacking.

#dumb

I forgot. You all pay folks to do those things.

Not everyone is in north Arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At some point they just need to open the schools and the parents have to drive their kids in. In Arlington with small children, you should have one car. Foot traffic for everything doesn’t work. If you don’t want to do that, keep your kid home. If the walkways between my house and the high school suck tomorrow and the day after, my kid will just have to stay after and do homework until one of us can pick him up.

I believe that point is tomorrow - most of the districts that closed said they did so with the plan for a 2 hour delay Tuesday.

But why couldn’t this just have been the plan for Monday? What does the extra day do?

Absolutely nothing.

Custodians can dedicate the whole day to removal vs. what they can fit in between regular duties

+1 this. Does APS have money in the budget to pay overtime? Plus their poor decisions for some schools come back to bite them in the ass - if Fleet doesn’t have parking for teachers and the streets are covered in ice piles, where is staff supposed to put their car?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At some point they just need to open the schools and the parents have to drive their kids in. In Arlington with small children, you should have one car. Foot traffic for everything doesn’t work. If you don’t want to do that, keep your kid home. If the walkways between my house and the high school suck tomorrow and the day after, my kid will just have to stay after and do homework until one of us can pick him up.

I believe that point is tomorrow - most of the districts that closed said they did so with the plan for a 2 hour delay Tuesday.

But why couldn’t this just have been the plan for Monday? What does the extra day do?

Absolutely nothing.

Custodians can dedicate the whole day to removal vs. what they can fit in between regular duties

+1 this. Does APS have money in the budget to pay overtime? Plus their poor decisions for some schools come back to bite them in the ass - if Fleet doesn’t have parking for teachers and the streets are covered in ice piles, where is staff supposed to put their car?

The schools aren’t the issue. It’s the county roads and sidewalks. Schools have been cleared already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could go help clear the lots instead of armchair quarterbacking.

#dumb

I forgot. You all pay folks to do those things.

Not everyone is in north Arlington

Your suggestion is people should show up and hand shovel school lots?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that would help considerably is much more aggressive salting before during and after the event. This area doesn’t do that.

Because 80% of the time we have rain which washes it all to the Bay.

Yes, I understand the reason we don't use the salt. This stuff is a tradeoff. Possibly when the severity of the event is known and predicted well ahead of time (as this was) and the tricky conditions are known well ahead of time in terms of removal (as this was) well maybe they make a different calculation. Or maybe not.

My thought is only I don't think discussion should be shouted down and nobody is supposed to ask questions or have any critical thought.

Salting the roads in advance only works in certain circumstances.

More aggressive salting would have helped overall in this situation. But they also have to have the salt, somewhere to store the salt, and the proper vehicles to dump the salt.

Temps were too low.

There are products beyond rock salt that can push effectiveness into colder temps. It's silly to debate this just google the topic if interested. You really think some of these colder areas in the US do not face this issue and have solutions? Of course they do.

The other areas of US buy a fleet of heavy snow moving equipment, dump trucks, bobcat plows, to manage the snow. We aren’t going to make that investment for snow every 5 years.

This is the logic and yet it’s snowing far more often than every 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At some point they just need to open the schools and the parents have to drive their kids in. In Arlington with small children, you should have one car. Foot traffic for everything doesn’t work. If you don’t want to do that, keep your kid home. If the walkways between my house and the high school suck tomorrow and the day after, my kid will just have to stay after and do homework until one of us can pick him up.

I believe that point is tomorrow - most of the districts that closed said they did so with the plan for a 2 hour delay Tuesday.

But why couldn’t this just have been the plan for Monday? What does the extra day do?

Absolutely nothing.

Custodians can dedicate the whole day to removal vs. what they can fit in between regular duties

+1 this. Does APS have money in the budget to pay overtime? Plus their poor decisions for some schools come back to bite them in the ass - if Fleet doesn’t have parking for teachers and the streets are covered in ice piles, where is staff supposed to put their car?

The schools aren’t the issue. It’s the county roads and sidewalks. Schools have been cleared already.

Schools are part of the issue. We got an email that the drop off/pick up lane is single file and to expect major delays at drop off. Bus lanes are also problematic. Parking lots aren't entirely clear and they're encouraging carpools. And sidewalks near schools aren't clear either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At some point they just need to open the schools and the parents have to drive their kids in. In Arlington with small children, you should have one car. Foot traffic for everything doesn’t work. If you don’t want to do that, keep your kid home. If the walkways between my house and the high school suck tomorrow and the day after, my kid will just have to stay after and do homework until one of us can pick him up.

I believe that point is tomorrow - most of the districts that closed said they did so with the plan for a 2 hour delay Tuesday.

But why couldn’t this just have been the plan for Monday? What does the extra day do?

Absolutely nothing.

Custodians can dedicate the whole day to removal vs. what they can fit in between regular duties

+1 this. Does APS have money in the budget to pay overtime? Plus their poor decisions for some schools come back to bite them in the ass - if Fleet doesn’t have parking for teachers and the streets are covered in ice piles, where is staff supposed to put their car?

The schools aren’t the issue. It’s the county roads and sidewalks. Schools have been cleared already.

Schools are part of the issue. We got an email that the drop off/pick up lane is single file and to expect major delays at drop off. Bus lanes are also problematic. Parking lots aren't entirely clear and they're encouraging carpools. And sidewalks near schools aren't clear either.

But they’re fixing it all today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who commuted to work this morning, how was traffic in and around Arlington?

I commuted last week too. It's fine. It's slower going at some intersections that aren't the right amount of lanes and/or a turn lane isn't cleared. Just allow extra time and it's fine.

+1 to all of the above. It's going to be a nightmare Wednesday when APS has all the kids back at school on time and the roads still don't have all the turn lanes/parking lanes cleared. (Not blaming anyone, just making an observation).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that would help considerably is much more aggressive salting before during and after the event. This area doesn’t do that.

Because 80% of the time we have rain which washes it all to the Bay.

Yes, I understand the reason we don't use the salt. This stuff is a tradeoff. Possibly when the severity of the event is known and predicted well ahead of time (as this was) and the tricky conditions are known well ahead of time in terms of removal (as this was) well maybe they make a different calculation. Or maybe not.

My thought is only I don't think discussion should be shouted down and nobody is supposed to ask questions or have any critical thought.

Salting the roads in advance only works in certain circumstances.

More aggressive salting would have helped overall in this situation. But they also have to have the salt, somewhere to store the salt, and the proper vehicles to dump the salt.

Temps were too low.

There are products beyond rock salt that can push effectiveness into colder temps. It's silly to debate this just google the topic if interested. You really think some of these colder areas in the US do not face this issue and have solutions? Of course they do.

The other areas of US buy a fleet of heavy snow moving equipment, dump trucks, bobcat plows, to manage the snow. We aren’t going to make that investment for snow every 5 years.

FCPS was out the first week of 2025 last school year for…snow and ice. It’s not every five years and with climate change, they need to invest in actual options. (They won’t).