VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Crews across Hampton Roads are preparing for the winter weather that is heading our way. In Virginia Beach, public works crews say there is 900 miles of roadway they will need to cover during the storm and they say they are ready to treat all of them.
According to Public Works Officials, crews have been working all week to get ready for the upcoming forecast. On Wednesday and Thursday crews loaded blades onto plows and mixed their sand and salt combination. The mixture is what the city uses to treat the roadway.
Public Works Officials say their primary concern with this storm is managing bridges, ramps and overpasses in addition to any roads First Responders may need to access like hospitals.
Once all of those roads are treated, they will go to primary and secondary roads before heading into neighborhoods. They ask residents to be patient and exercise caution as crews work to clear the roads.
"The roads can be very deceptive you might think it's only a thin sheet and the next thing you know you're spinning around like a tea cup," explained Drew Lankford with Virginia Beach Public Works. "The best thing to do is if you don't have to be out Saturday or Sunday don't go out, if you do, just give our plows plenty of room."
According to Lankford the city will have 35 plows on the roads clearing the roadways. Plows can only be set out when there is at least three inches of snow on the roads, until that amount of accumulation is reached crews will be using their sand and salt mixture to treat the roads.
There is currently 1500 tons of the mixture ready to be used. More sand and salt is on hand at city facilities, ready to be mixed just in case more is needed.
In addition to Virginia Beach's preparations, Governor Terry McAuliffe announced on Friday that all of Virginia's snow resources have been moved to Hampton Roads.
More than 600 pieces of equipment will be ready to be used before and during the storm. In addition to teams of people ready to work around the clock.
"We have deployed equipment from all over Virginia, all of it is here, we are ready," explained Governor McAuliffe. "The rest of the state doesn't look like it's going to be hit so we are able to take that equipment."
Governor McAuliffe echoed Virginia Beach's warning to residents, asking people to stay home and off the roads this weekend.
"I have the equipment deployed here but if there are cars stuck in the middle of the road they have to stop and get a wrecker in to move the car let us do our work," explained Governor McAuliffe.
Though that doesn't mean you can't enjoy being snowed in, the Governor also passed on a few suggestions on how to spend the weekend at home comfortably.
"Stay home watch football have a cold beer and enjoy. Just don't go on the roads because it's going to be a significant amount of snow."
