County Closed For 2nd Straight Day As Crews Work On Plowing Streets

MCDOT Snow Operations map, 4:30 a.m. Friday

Montgomery County government is closed Friday as crews work on paving streets for the second straight day.

At 4:30 a.m. Friday, the county Department of Transportation Storm Operations Map showed crews were still working to clear emergency and primary neighborhood roads. When those roads are clear, everyone in the county will be within a half-mile of a plowed road.

Many of those routes had been cleared by Thursday afternoon. A second leg of snow Thursday night covered those roads again, forcing plow operators to circle back and pull away from any neighborhood street operations.

Keith Compton, chief of the Highway Services Division for the MCDOT, said Thursday to expect the entire operation to last several days. The county later said that meant it should take 35-40 hours to clear the roads once the snow ended.

Montgomery County said it has 600 total pieces of equipment working in its snow removal operation, the most ever. Contractors work in 12-hour shifts. County crews started early Thursday morning and Compton said they must keep relatively normal sleep schedules so that they’re rested for the long haul.

State Highway Administration crews are responsible for major state routes, such as Wisconsin Avenue, Connecticut Avenue, East-West Highway and Old Georgetown Road.

Both Compton and County Executive Isiah Leggett said MCDOT had enough equipment going in. The county was already over its snow removal budget for the season, but Leggett said Wednesday that would not curtail any plowing or salt operations for this week’s storm, the area’s biggest this winter.

Bethesda and Chevy Chase got about 12 inches of snow from Wednesday night to Thursday morning and then another roughly one inch later Thursday.

Another 1-2 inches is possible with a separate storm system moving in from the west that should reach the area late tonight into Saturday morning.

With wide-ranging snow totals across the county and snowed in neighborhoods, MCPS cancelled school Friday for the second straight day.

The federal government is operating on a two-hour delayed arrival and employees have the option for unscheduled leave or telework.

For the second straight day, Montgomery County-provided recycling and trash collections won’t be made. The county’s Shady Grove Transfer Station will be open with normal hours. The county will not slide Thursday and Friday’s schedule to the weekend, so there will be no collections on Saturday and Sunday.

If you had paper recycling cart repairs or pickups scheduled for February 13 or 14, those pick-ups will be made on Tuesday, Feb. 18 and Wednesday Feb. 19. Remember that Monday is Presidents’ Day, which means regular pick-ups for next week will all slide one day back. The last collection day will be Saturday, Feb. 22.

Image via Montgomery County Department of Transportation

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