Empty, snow-covered Duke Street on Jan. 23 Photo by Vernon Miles.
On Wednesday morning, Jan. 27, the city announced that all streets in Alexandria were passable for emergency vehicles, but warned that “passable” may mean only one lane is clear.
“People still need to be careful,” said Craig Fifer, Alexandria’s director of the Office of Communications and Public Information.
Fifer said he understood residents’ frustrations, but that clearing away snow is a slow and tedious process. To clear the roads, Fifer acknowledged that the city may annoy local residents, particularly when snowplows block in people’s driveways. There is also the added inconvenience that, because the dump trucks were converted to impromptu snow plows, garbage would not be picked up this week in the city.
“It’s not as simple as just driving down the street,” said Fifer. “It can take up to half an hour to clear a single block. We have 560 miles of roads, and a single lane takes at least two passes to clear, sometimes as many as six, that’s not counting parking lots, sidewalks, city facilities, fire stations, and all kinds of non-street areas that also have to be cleared.”