'If you don't have to go out, please don't:' Richmond officials urge safety as snow arrives

AccuWeather

Bobby Vincent, director of the Richmond Dept. of Public Works, joined AccuWeather live on Feb. 19 to discuss how the city is responding to a winter storm that's hitting Virginia the hardest.

Transcript

00:00The latest winter storm is currently blasting its way across the eastern U.S., bringing

00:04heavy rain and wind for some, along with snow and ice for others.

00:08Joining us now from Richmond, Virginia, is Bobby Vincent, Director of the Richmond Department

00:13of Public Works.

00:14Thanks so much for being with us.

00:18So, first of all, how is your team prepared for this snow event?

00:22Well, we've been working for the past 48 hours in terms of having roadway crews out there,

00:29putting down salt, putting down brine as well, particularly on our hills and bridges.

00:35And we basically split all of our teams up into two different shifts.

00:39So we're working two 13-hour shifts, so we're working around the clock, putting down brine

00:44as well as granulated salt throughout the city on all of our priority one and priority

00:50two routes.

00:51We haven't been able to get into our local streets yet, but we anticipate possibly being

00:55able to do that as recently as, as early as tonight.

00:59So what are the current conditions right now that you're tracking and how is Public Works

01:03responding?

01:04Have there been any emergencies, for example, so far?

01:07There haven't been any tragic emergencies, thank goodness, but road conditions aren't

01:13too bad, but they are worsening as we get into the evening.

01:18So as of right now, we've had only a few accidents, nothing major, but we have had to do some

01:24road closures on some of our steeper slopes located throughout the city as a proactive

01:30measure and also as a reactive measure on some areas where there have been accidents.

01:35There hasn't been a lot of accidents, but there have been a few.

01:38So right now we are showing black asphalt throughout the majority of the city on our

01:43priority one routes and on our priority two routes, our collector streets.

01:47On some of our local streets, our neighborhood streets, we are beginning to see some snow,

01:53and we are beginning to cover some of those roads.

01:56And what's your message to residents and viewers in your area?

01:59Primarily, we just want people to stay in.

02:02If you don't have to go out, please don't.

02:05And if you do have to go out, give yourself plenty of time.

02:08We don't want anybody rushing.

02:09We don't want anybody speeding underneath these conditions because the only thing that

02:13we wind up doing is putting the drivers as well as our emergency vehicles at risk.

02:20And also, please give our plows plenty of distance to be able to traverse and do what

02:26they need to do with regards to the spreading of chemicals.

02:29Good advice right there.

02:30Bobby Vincent, Director of the Richmond Department of Public Works, thank you so much for your time.

02:37Have a good evening.

02:38Stay safe.

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