VDOT Commissioner Faults Ice Storm Response
David Ekern, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation, summed up the department's response to the Feb. 12 ice storm this way: "When you look at the critical 45 minutes, we got overwhelmed."
He was talking about the time between 3 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. when the Springfield Interchange's roadways and bridges began to freeze -- and so did VDOT.
-- The road treatment equipment wasn't where it needed to be when weather conditions began to deteriorate rapidly.
-- VDOT's Traffic Management Center in Northern Virginia failed to activate the message boards to warn drivers that the interchange had become impassable.
-- The 511 phone information system was not engaged. VDOT's Web site was not used to alert people who had not yet left home or work.
-- The Traffic Management Center did not contact the emergency operations center in Richmond or other regional traffic management centers to coordinate public information to divert motorists from the area.
This link will take you to the full "after action" report by VDOT. Here's a link to the actions VDOT has taken in response to the Feb. 12 failure.
Ekern also announced VDOT plans to hold a public meeting about the incident and response. It's scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on April 22 at the Waterford reception center in Springfield.
Ekern made his comments during a telephone press conference this afternoon after delivering the report to the Commonwealth Transportation Board in Richmond. (Here's a link to the commissioner's presentation to the board.)
Like any transportation department, VDOT tries to match its response to the actual weather conditions. Responding to a weather emergency can cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Failing to respond also can be extremely costly. And in this case, it was.
The weather forecast led VDOT to believe that the icing would be to the north of Springfield. But, "I do not blame weather forecasting as the reason for this event," Ekern said.
Neither do the many commuters I heard from in the days following the ice storm. They listened to the radio and knew the storm was coming, they said. That's why they left work early, many of them trying to reach their neighborhoods in time to vote in the presidential primary. The frozen roads locked them in the Springfield interchange for hours -- some said seven hours or more.
It "really locked up Northern Virginia," Ekern said. "We sat down and said, that's an unacceptable event."
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March 20, 2008; 2:29 PM ET
Congestion
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Posted by: ~sg | March 20, 2008 8:40 PM
Does VDOT exist at all? Do they ever do anything? There's been a dead racoon on I-395 HOV lanes shoulder for weeks. Somewhere around exit 3 or 4, as far as I remember. There's been a huge pothole on northern ramp connecting Franconia-Springfield Parkway with I-95 HOV lanes for weeks as well. Although they should find these by themselves, I tried to help by reporting the pothole on their website two or three weeks ago. Nothing happened. Are they waiting until a car's wheel falls off in that pothole? Are they waiting until the racoon rots completely?
Posted by: bwv1004 | March 21, 2008 8:28 AM
yes they do exist. no they don't do anything as noted by this article. yes, they're waiting for a vehicle's wheels to fall off and close the lanes to put up a sign that says work will be done in that area, following another 6 weeks, the hole will be filled but those surrounding it wont be. yes, it's much easier to clean up a completely decomposed raccoon than a freshly clean carcas.
Posted by: Answers to bwv1004 | March 21, 2008 10:30 AM
Kudos to VDOT, they filled that hole! Now, the racoon, please.
Posted by: bwv1004 | March 27, 2008 5:39 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
It sounds as if nothing at all went right, or was done right, by VDOT on Feb 12.