Sunday, February 7, 2010

Statement by Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett Regarding Status of Snow Clearing Operations

"I want to thank all our County workers for their extraordinary efforts as they battle this  highly unusual and historic snowfall.  So far, the Couny has averaged about 30 inches of heavy, wet snow, and at this time, we have over 500 pieces of equipment and 600 people working 24/7 to clear our emergency and primary roads.  I want to urge residents to continue to stay off the roads ,if at all possible, to allow these hard-working people to do their job unimpeded. 

Montgomery County has 5,000 lane miles of roads.  We are estimating that it will take until midnight Sunday to complete plowing operations on primary roads.  At that time, we will begin plowing operations on secondary roads, which should take until midnight on Monday.  Only then can we begin snow removal in neighborhoods, which will be a combination of plowing and, in the more urbanized areas, snow removal.  With the amount of snow we have, there is nowhere to push plowed snow in many neighborhods, so it will have to be removed.  Hauling snow out of neighborhoods is very labor and equipment intensive and will take longer.

Thousands of families are without power, and County snow plows are working with PEPCO crews so they can access areas to make repairs.  

A few reminders:

I urge you to check on your neighbors and provide whatever assistance you can to them .
Because of power outages, some traffic signals are not operating, so I urge you to use extreme caution and treat these intersections as a four-way stop.  

Pedestrians should should be extremely careful if walking in or near the roadway, and drivers should be aware that pedestrians may be sharing the road with them and be on the lookout."


-County Executive Isiah Leggett

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