December 21, 2009

Much of the snow that fell during Saturday's historic storm still lingered on secondary streets in Charlottesville and Albemarle County late Monday night.

"There's so much snow that the plows are having a hard time pushing it. We're having to send in motor graders, which are large pieces of equipment that are usually used to grade dirt on the roads," said VDOT spokesman, Lou Hatter.

Hatter says using motor graders is time consuming, but it's a must because there is just too much snow for plows to push through.

"The difference with this storm is, it's significantly larger than anything we've had in probably more than a decade," said Hatter.

The city of Charlottesville is faced with similar conditions. The plows the city was using had plastic tips on them, and they weren't cutting through the ice.

"We've contracted a new piece of equipment that kind of pounds the ice to break it up and move it off on some of the interstates," said Charlottesville spokesman, Ric Barrick.

Both Charlottesville and Albemarle County now face ice and flooding issues.

Traffic along Emmet Street and Angus Road was backed up around 6:00 pm Monday evening after Charlottesville police temporarily shut down part of Hydraulic Road due to icy conditions.

"This is going to be a reoccurring challenge each morning until we get the snow really at a smaller level," said Barrick.

Barrick says the city is going to work with developers to make sure some construction projects are well-equipped for drainage. They're also going to make sure drains are clear, in hopes of preventing flooding from becoming a major problem.