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shoulders were rock solid where the &st snow we pushed off had frozen. We couldn’t budge them and the roads just kept getting narrower and narrower,” recalls Beiqie Atkins on the drive hack to Warrenton after dropping off a load of chains in Rap. IMhannock. It’s 3 p.m. on Day One of Uie storm of *87 and the wind is sift* ing the snow back onto the highway. The dual lane is only a single lane in spots, but the highway department pick-up can dip along at 46 miles per ^ghour.
Mr. Atkins reports that hired trucks have already started dealing the nuyor secondary roads in Fauquier and Rappahannock. He predicts they'll repeat the effort time end again if the forecasters* prediction of “howling winds” materializes.
“Winds are tough, but ice costs more. Our trucks have to travel the roads the same way they do with snow, but they have to spread chemicals. Sleet and rain on top of snow - that’s when we get the big bills,” Mr. Atkins says.
On the hills outside Warrenton, we pass cars and a pick-up or two half buried in drifts, abandoned in the outside lane or crossovers a few hundred yards from the crests. “Now, there’s a big heidache for highway crews,” Mr. Atkins notes, pointing to the abrupt halt of the path cleared by snow plows. The highway crews rarely move an abandoned vehicle, although they’ll put their backs into freeing a car if the driver is still on the scene. But if the driver has departed, they can only plow around the obstacle and then , notify the State Police. “We let them handle the towing. That’s their job,” Mr. Atkins explains.
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