Related stories
As you brave the frigid temperatures to dig your car out of the driveway, crews in D.C. are working to clear the rock-hard snow so kids can go back to school.
“I kind of call this storm a one-two punch,” Delano Hunter, the director of the D.C. Department of General Services, told WTOP. “The snow and ice was the first punch, but the extended cold temperatures that’s that follow up punch.”
Hunter said Department of Public Works and the District Department of Transportation crews cleared main routes and secondary roads.
“It’s those neighborhood streets and those side streets. Some only have one lane. The goal is to get them to two,” Hunter said.
DPW and DDOT have more than 300 pieces of equipment and more than 600 people supporting the effort. According to Hunter, General Services has more than 100 pieces of light equipment, and about 300 crew members at work getting government buildings, including schools, reopened.
But he described the work as intense manual labor because of the consistency of the snow.
“This snow and ice is more like concrete,” he said.
For kids who may walk to school, clearing sidewalks is paramount, but some areas may still be icy, and people have started walking on the cleared roads.
“We know that’s a natural reaction as they try to navigate and go about on foot, so we encourage motors to slow down, exercise patience as we all get through this,” Hunter said.
He asked businesses and residents to continue clearing sidewalks in front of their buildings to make them passable.
Hunter says they are also checking HVAC units at all schools to make sure they are properly heated. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser will ultimately make a decision on when schools will reopen.
