Storm Easing Up
Your afternoon commute should be better than this morning's trip. The weather service has canceled the winter storm warning and travel conditions have improved, especially within the Capital Beltway, as the morning's icy mix changed to mostly rain and diminished.
Maryland monitors winter highway conditions from its State Operations Center near BWI. (Thomson - file)But temperatures remain around freezing, and you still may encounter slick spots.
VDOT, still smarting from the Feb. 12 ice storm delays at the Springfield Interchange, says it isn't taking any chances on the road conditions. Crews have treated commuter lots and will continue to treat highway ramps and bridges. They also are sanding hills, curves and trouble spots in subdivisions.
Highway crews across the region had plenty of warning about the arrival of this storm, so all jurisdictions mobilized overnight and were out treating the roads, even neighborhood streets that usually are the last in line.
Traffic was lighter than normal, because so many schools are closed and the federal government has its unscheduled leave policy in effect. (See our closings page.)
Still, be extra careful this afternoon in areas with ramps and bridges, especially in the Springfield Interchange, which has 50 of them. Plenty of accidents were reported across the region this morning, including a multi-car collision that temporarily shut the ramp from southbound I-270 to I-370. You will find updates on road conditions on our Traffic page. Look for reports from our Capital Weather Gang, updating the weather.
David Buck, spokesman for the Maryland State Highway Administration, noted that people were heeding all the advice to stay off the roads today, and that the roads themselves were now mainly just wet. Still, he urged everyone to be cautious and said there are accidents every day on the interstates, whatever the weather.
From the Maryland Transit Administration: All commuter buses will operate on a normal schedule this afternoon and evening.
Check Metro's home page for the latest rail line conditions.
I got this early morning e-mail from a commuter who parks at the Metro lot at Greenbelt Station:
I arrived at the Greenbelt Metro Station at 5:30 a.m. While the road from the Beltway's inner loop was treated, the parking lot was not. The areas where the cars park has never been treated so it was already icy when I stepped out of my car. The driving lanes between the parking areas had icy patches.
When I entered the station, I saw one worker starting a small vehicle that was on the scale of something that would be used to spread salt on sidewalks. We pay increased parking rates yet still have to risk falling on ice in the untreated parking lot.
The areas marked off for parking could have been treated overnight, but they were not, so drivers exiting their cars, step on very slippery ice as they are trying to get traction on the soles of their shoes as they move from a seated position inside their cars to a standing position between their car and the one parked next to them. If the icing conditions persist into the times when people are trying to leave the lot, they are going to have very slippery surfaces around their cars which means it will be very hard to get enough traction to stand while trying to chip ice from their vehicles.
Tom Stiyer
Beltsville
All the transportation departments offer good advice for travelers. Here are some tips from the District Department of Transportation:
-- Pedestrians can take longer to cross intersections. Please remain alert, do not drive distracted and be aware of surrounding conditions including other motorists and pedestrians.
-- District residents and businesses need to clear their sidewalks, sidewalk entrances, nearby catch basin openings, and the area surrounding hydrants of snow, sleet and ice to prevent injury to pedestrians.
-- Please take Metro as an alternative to driving
-- Remember that driving on ice is significantly different than driving on snow. Even a 4-wheel drive SUV does not perform well in ice and additional safety measures should be followed.
-- Be aware of road conditions, particularly black ice which can be deceptive in its appearance giving the driver a false sense of security on the road.
-- Keep a safe distance from emergency and snow vehicles. Stay behind plow vehicles at least 25 feet and do not attempt to pass them.
By |
February 22, 2008; 1:50 PM ET
Weather
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Next: The Weekend and Beyond
Posted by: Laura | February 22, 2008 9:09 AM
Whoops, the garage would be on the left. Not awake yet...
Posted by: Laura | February 22, 2008 9:10 AM
Please drive as an alternative to taking Metro. There isn't room for you.
Posted by: Luke | February 22, 2008 9:23 AM
Yaktrax will slip right over your shoes and make it much easier and safer to walk on the ice. No affiliation with the company, just a satisfied customer.
Posted by: New Mexican Mountain Man | February 22, 2008 10:46 AM
As usual, the weathermen got it wrong AGAIN!!! The region paniced, schools cancelled, and it's going to be nothing but normal rain.
Why do we bother with these fancy Doppler 10,000 systems, when I can tell the weather by just walking outside adn sticking out my tounge. Officials were right to be concerned because of the forecast, but as we've learned ALL winter, decisions should NOT be made until conditions actually develop and a forecast comes to fruition.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 22, 2008 10:54 AM
I would love to take Metro instead of driving this weekend, but it seems that the Red Line is on some kind of crazy 30-minute delays every weekend from now until spring. I'm not adding an hour onto a round trip just for the sake of taking the train.
Posted by: mccxxiii | February 22, 2008 11:11 AM
From Dr. Gridlock: At the moment, I'm not finding fault with either the forecasters or the highway people regarding today's outcome.
Feb. 12, now that was a disaster, with a storm performing just a bit differently from expectations, at least in Northern Virginia.
For the past few years, our winter weather has consisted largely of these systems that pass through when the temperature is right around freezing. A light shift can make a lot of difference to travelers, and I'd rather have the forecasters tilting toward a worst case and highway departments being over-prepared. It's hard for them to quickly crank up their response when things go bad. That had consequences for thousands of motorists at the Springfield Interchange on Feb. 12.
Posted by: Robert Thomson | February 22, 2008 11:56 AM
Regarding closings due to rain, traffic panic, milk and toilet paper rushes, "working" from home messages, and general media hype:
Had a meeting (in a deserted office) today with a gent who flew in from Chicago. He put it best when he asked "Are you people insane?"
Posted by: Lowel | February 22, 2008 12:40 PM
Boy I can't believe DC. After living in the DC metro area for 35 years and relocating to Colorado all I can say is that the DC metro area is full of wimps. We measure snow out where I am in FEET and I'm talking 4 feet, 5 feet, etc, Schools don't close out here for that kind of snow but they did close down for a 7 foot snow we got in 2003 on St. Patrick's Day. You folks out there need to take driver education in the Colorado Rockies!
Posted by: Jan,Colorado | February 22, 2008 4:27 PM
I had an experience once with a friend from Colorado who had never experienced ice forming on a car while driving (and thus didn't own an ice scraper!), because out where he was from, it was not humid enough to be raining ice. Snow is one thing for driving and cleanup. Ice can be a bigger mess if not dealt with properly.
People I know from places with real weather (like me) get assimilated into fretting about the local weather for various reasons. One is that there's the morons on the road who don't deal with ice and snow (or rain!) on a regular basis, and forget what to do when there's zero friction. Is there a similar effect for the first snowfall in the fall in the midwest/west having more accidents? Another is the high amount of traffic on the roads which are at or over capacity, any one thing goes wrong, be it an accident, or construction, and the whole system fails with big delays.
Posted by: DM | February 22, 2008 5:47 PM
Yaktrax and other slip-on traction devices are great, but be sure to take them off while you're walking inside Metro stations. They're not designed for slippery tile, and you'll skate your way to an accident.
Posted by: Washington Dame | February 23, 2008 9:47 AM
"Yaktrax and other slip-on traction devices are great, but be sure to take them off while you're walking inside Metro stations. They're not designed for slippery tile, and you'll skate your way to an accident."
Agreed! They have good traction on ice, but poor traction on wet tile.
Posted by: New Mexican Mountain Man | February 23, 2008 4:09 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
You writer should consider driving to the College Park metro station and parking in the garage there on days like this in the future. On a day when so many schools were closed and the feds are on liberal leave (and getting there at 530), he wouldn't have had any trouble finding a spot.
Just take Beltway to Kenilworth Ave., turn right on Paint Branch Parkway, the garage will be on your right.