Anonymous wrote:sorry... on my street there are homes where they have cleared out their driveways, yet not the sidewalks. The county should have the right to ticket these folks.

We had a lot of this in my neighborhood. People would get their own driveways nicely shoveled out and not touch their sidewalks. They take care of themselves not don't worry about their community.

Tysons is bad. Lanes disappear into snowbanks without warning. Even DC has cones out where that happens.

I was in Tyson's today on Gallows rd and it was a mess. Single lane cleared on one side. Took me 30 minutes to go 2 miles.

In my Vienna neighborhood most roads are only plowed as a single lane as well.

There is no place for kids to stand for catching the bus and there is no way kids in the walker zone can safely walk to school.

Reston/Fairfax area is not safe at all. There is no way a bus could make the required three point turn in our neighborhood. Reston parkway has missing lanes--horrible traffic today due to wrecks.

I'm in Reston. Our neighborhood hires a private contractor to plow, so our parking lots are in decent shape. However, there is only one lane going into and out of our neighborhood, and the students would need to stand in that road in order to catch a bus. The sidewalks (which are adjacent to this road) are completely covered in snow; they don't abut private property so it's not clear who should be clearing them. Because of the height of the snowbanks on either side of our neighborhood, visibility is a real issue for anyone entering or leaving the neighborhood, by car or on foot.

Yesterday driving around Reston there were plenty of places without turn lanes, where plows and heavy equipment obstructed traffic, and where melting snow led to treacherous conditions.

So yes, I would say our area is still bad. We are a family with 2 working families; it's not ideal but we are taking turns covering.

And to the PP who suggested that SACC centers should be open -- our elementary school did not even see a plow until late last night. So there would have been no safe way for students and teachers to enter the building.

West Springfield is not ideal but overall the roads all have at least one lane down to the pavement. I think Friday would be fine to open based off the Springfield area.

Anonymous wrote:It's fine. I work for a private company and every single employee made it in.

There have been 3 people hit by cars/snow plows walking in the streets over the past few days, that I know of. It's possible that every child could safely get to school, and it's also quite possible that a child could get hit by a car walking in the streets on the way to school. Why chance it when it's avoidable by closing schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Springfield is bad. Old Keene Mill Road is only one lane in places and it's a major thoroughfare. Also there are piles of snow that are very hard to see around at intersections. Cars pull out in order to see . . . very dangerous. If school were in session, more cars would be added to a tenuous road situation and very likely disaster would ensue. Things might look okay to you OP, but partly it is because there are fewer vehicles on the roads right now. Roads around here are at full capacity on good days. When any wrench is thrown into the mix, there is gridlock. Opening schools is a very bad idea.

I was just on OKM between Sydenstricker and Lee Chapel. It was SOOO slow. Almost stopped due to loss of lanes. Does anybody know how far the backup went? Sydenstricker was in turn backed up and also missing turn lanes. I saw plenty of parked plows on Sydenstricker though.

OKM both directions goes from 1 lane to 2 lanes and back to 1 lane. It's playing havoc with driving. It really should be one lane end-to-end, but people see the short stretches of 2 lanes and get excited, then merge and slow traffic.

sorry... on my street there are homes where they have cleared out their driveways, yet not the sidewalks. The county should have the right to ticket these folks.

The first step would be to enact an ordinance requiring homeowners to shovel. In VA it is only "encouraged", not required. That will help change this prevailing attitude of irresponsibility. On my street there are

McLean is spotty

Anonymous wrote:
Springfield is bad. Old Keene Mill Road is only one lane in places and it's a major thoroughfare. Also there are piles of snow that are very hard to see around at intersections. Cars pull out in order to see . . . very dangerous. If school were in session, more cars would be added to a tenuous road situation and very likely disaster would ensue. Things might look okay to you OP, but partly it is because there are fewer vehicles on the roads right now. Roads around here are at full capacity on good days. When any wrench is thrown into the mix, there is gridlock. Opening schools is a very bad idea.

I was just on OKM between Sydenstricker and Lee Chapel. It was SOOO slow. Almost stopped due to loss of lanes. Does anybody know how far the backup went? Sydenstricker was in turn backed up and also missing turn lanes. I saw plenty of parked plows on Sydenstricker though.

Oakton here: many roads are single or one and a half lanes with large walls of snow. There is no place for the children to stand safely away from the cars. It will be a mess just with the morning rush hour cars, without the buses. From here, it looks like off until Monday.

Narrow, single lane through our neighborhood in Burke. Bus could not negotiate. Not all sidewalks have been shoveled, and many bus stops are snowbanks.

Springfield is bad. Old Keene Mill Road is only one lane in places and it's a major thoroughfare. Also there are piles of snow that are very hard to see around at intersections. Cars pull out in order to see . . . very dangerous. If school were in session, more cars would be added to a tenuous road situation and very likely disaster would ensue. Things might look okay to you OP, but partly it is because there are fewer vehicles on the roads right now. Roads around here are at full capacity on good days. When any wrench is thrown into the mix, there is gridlock. Opening schools is a very bad idea.