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.
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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.