The inch of snow that came Wednesday night and stuck to already cold roads wrecked the commutes of many in the Washington, D.C., area and raised the ire of many drivers who pointed the finger at Montgomery County and the state.
The Highway Services Division of the county’s Department of Transportation said it pretreated all primary, secondary and emergency county roads throughout Wednesday using 100 pieces of equipment spreading a salt brine solution.
The State Highway Administration (SHA) didn’t pretreat its roads, but spokesperson David Buck said pretreatment wouldn’t have prevented the slippery conditions, many vehicle collisions and hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic.
“Pretreatment would’ve had absolutely zero effect on what happened in the Washington, D.C. region last night,” Buck said. “We had equal or even more snow in other parts of the state and not the same problems. The problem is the Capital Beltway was at 100 percent capacity already and we couldn’t get on the road to treat it.”
The SHA also controls major routes such as Rockville Pike, Route 29, East West Highway and Connecticut Avenue.
State Del. Marc Korman, who represents Bethesda, sent a letter Thursday morning to SHA Administrator Gregory Johnson asking why roads weren’t pretreated and for an apology to his constituents.
“But more than an apology, I would like to be able to provide an explanation,” Korman wrote. "Why were the roads not pre-treated? What are the standards for pre-treating roads? Who makes the decision? When is the situation assessed so the decision can be made?”
Via MCDOT Highway Services/YouTube
The road conditions made for a busy night of calls for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS).
At 11:30 p.m., MCFRS got a call for a medical emergency from a driver stuck in traffic on the inner loop near Connecticut Avenue, department spokesperson Pete Piringer said.
Ambulance crews from Chevy Chase, NIH and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center responding to the call also got stuck in traffic. After several hours and leaving their ambulances to search on foot, they finally tracked down the patient and others who had called for help on that section of the Beltway.
From 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to 2:30 a.m. Thursday, MCFRS got 225 calls for service. A typical 24-hour period has about 300 calls, Piringer said.
“The storm created havoc,” Piringer said.
On Veirs Mill Road, traffic was snarled from Rockville to Silver Spring into the late evening as drivers slowly inched past other vehicles that blocked lanes after getting stuck on the road’s steep hills.
Just past the intersection with University Boulevard in Wheaton, two westbound lanes were blocked by Ride On buses that had nearly slid into each other as they tried to descend the hill by Westfield Wheaton. Around 10 p.m., a small compact car trying to pass the buses in the one clear lane fishtailed, blocking that lane and trapping vehicles behind. Meanwhile, Metro buses that stopped while trying to ascend the hill blocked a lane on the opposite of the road as traffic inched by.
On Thursday morning, the problems continued.
Southbound Old Georgetown Road at Greentree Road in Bethesda was blocked around 9 a.m. because of icy conditions.
Montgomery County Highway Services and the SHA said they were continuing to treat roads Thursday morning.
Julie Rasicot contributed to this report
