The Jan. 3 winter storm paralyzed traffic for 48 miles south of Washington on Interstate 95, leaving hundreds of people stranded overnight — many for more than 24 hours without food, water or gas.
The state hired Arlington-based consulting firm CNA to review how the Virginia Department of Transportation, State Police and Department of Emergency Management reacted to the storm, examining what went wrong over 36 hours along the highway south of Washington.wraps up a three-month investigation into one of the Washington region’s worst travel debacles since a 2011 snowstorm created gridlock during an evening rush.
The storm, which dropped about 12 inches of snow in the area, quickly overwhelmed snow-removal crews on the hilly stretch of interstate. Multiple crashes in the Fredericksburg area, some involving jackknifed tractor-trailers, contributed to the mayhem, but it wasn’t until the next morning that Virginia officials officially shut down the corridor.Sen. Tim Kaine became the most high-profile motorist trapped overnight as he headed to Washington from Richmond.
The two Northam officials said the governor’s office asked transportation and public safety secretaries that morning if they expected to need an emergency declaration and asked Settle the next morning. All said no, according to the Northam officials. Settle declined to comment Friday through State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.
At 9:14 a.m. on Jan. 4 — after distraught motorists had been trapped overnight without aid or clear information — authorities decided to send a Wireless Emergency Alert to nearby motorists. The alerts are short emergency messages from federal, state or local authorities that can be sent to cellphones in a targeted area.,” it read. But the report said that message was misleading and proved “a particular cause of frustration” for those who received it.
VDOT had limited access to resources partly because of the pandemic, the report said. Contractors who provide snow removal for the agency had fewer staff members working because of the surging omicron variant. The report also found that some VDOT districts experienced shortages of field staff because of infections and exposure.
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