Nearly a quarter of the District’s fleet of snowplows is out of commission as snow continues to fall on D.C..
The biggest issue the agency faces is too much wear and tear on its employees and equipment, District Department of Transportation spokesperson John Lisle said Tuesday. About 70 of the 270 pieces of equipment on the streets, including contracted plows, are out of commission due to repair work, Lisle said.
“We’ve got the personnel issue, of people just getting worn out. We’ve got the equipment issues, it’s also getting worn out. And we’ve also got a lot of snow piled on the sides of the roads,” Lisle said. “But we have to just keep pressing on.”
“The plows are taking a beating due to the ice on the road” and many trucks have broken salt spreaders, he said.
The agency expects to have at least 230 plows back on the street tonight, kicking off the 10th back-to-back 12-hour shift since 8 a.m. Friday morning. More than 750 employees, including drivers and support personnel, have been working to clear the streets since the first storm hit, and some workers have been staying in hotels rather than traveling long distances home. The hotel rates are covered under DDOT’s budget, Lisle said.
“Obviously they’re very tired, it’s been a very long week, but they do get 12 hours off,” Lisle said. “The last couple nights most of them have been able to go home, so hopefully they got some rest and were able to see their families, but it’s been a challenging week for everybody.”
Though some of the major roadways have been cleared of snow, many streets remain icy, Lisle said.
“The ice makes it challenging, but hopefully the salt and vehicle traffic will take care of that,” Lisle said. “That’s why we’ve been trying to get our plowing done for this storm, so we could concentrate on the new snow that falls.”
DDOT has “about 9,000 tons of salt on-hand,” Lisle said, which is enough to get through tonight’s storm. An addition 3,200 tons are expected to be delivered, and the agency is running trucks up to Baltimore to the wholesalers to pick up more salt, Lisle said.
“We’re fine for the snow we’re expecting over the next 24 hours,” Lisle said.
