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Some things do change
A blizzard, complete with high winds, lots of snow falling sideways, and frigid temperatures rocked the county this past weekend. When the wind stopped howling Sunday afternoon it was apparent that some things have changed over the last 20 years. >
Then — the highway department erected miles of snow fence in a mostly vain attempt to keep the drifting snowfrom clogging the highways. Residents of the F.T. Valley were lucky if Route 231 were plowed within the week of a major snow storm. The miles of dirt roads were rarely, if ever, plowed before rising temperatures melted the snow.
Then — local farmers opened the dirt roadswith farm tractors; they had to in order to feed their livestock. If the drifts were too big, farmers marked out temporary roadways across their fields.
Life went on and residents mostly didn’t complain about the inconveniences.
This time when the wind stopped howling the growl of big snowplows could be heard all across the county. From Chester Gap to Slate Mills the highway department was hard at work on Sunday as it had been all day Saturday during the height of the storm. The main roads were passable and the big plows, bulldozers and even a snowblower were hard at work on the back roads.
By Wednesday afternoon every road in the county (nearly 220 miles of dirt and asphalt) was open to traffic. Countless drifts had been cut. In many places the path through the drifts was barely one lane wide, but people could get out.
Yet the VDOT crews were not fast enough. Sunday morning angry residents began calling the highway dept, maintenance shed near Washington to complain. First they complained that their road was blocked. Then, when a plow came by and opened up a path, they called to complain that the plow had pushed up a wall of snow and blocked their driveway.
The highway department has 19 people assigned to Rappahannock County. Six more came up from Warsaw on the Northern Neck to lend a hand. They worked around the clock from Friday night until Tuesday evening so that we could rush back to our too-hurried lives.
They deserve our thanks and praise", not complaints and curses.
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