VDOT

VDOT

Defended

To the Editor:

Let me start by saying that I commend the men and women Who worked for hours to attempt to clear the county’s roads of snow, slush, ice, and more snow.

Some of these dedicated people worked 80 to 100 hours in a week. They battled nature in sub-zero weather with zero visibility and very little'rest. Bull-dozers, motor graders, front-end loaders and an army of trucks fought the battle, twenty-four hours a day.

There were places in the county where it took multiple pieces of equipment many hours to even find the road beneath the snow drifts.

As far as organization goes, VDOT workers and private contractors are given written or verbal instruction as well as maps with highlighted routes. Well, if you were fortunate enough to live on a road that was so drifted the trucks couldn’t get through, you had to WAIT! Patiently or not, the choice was yours. As frustrating as it was, the snow then got packed, so we had to wait again for the packed snow to tum to slush; then be pushed again. Maybe, there is a lesson to be learned here,

1 don’t think that we, as a human race, can comprehend what a slow job snow removal of this depth is. Let’s say it’s like 20 people trying to ride their lawn mowers over every road in the county — twice, while occasionallywaiting to be pulled out after getting stuck or breaking down.

We don’t often see snow in the amounts of three feet or more, with drifts twelve to fifteen feet tall.

God’s beautiful winter painting was created in two and half to three days. 1 do not think that man is always intended to dispose of His handiwork in a couple ‘of days. We should not expect miracles from man when God is at work. Therefore, the only way you can plan for this not to happen again is to pray real hard.

ED1E E. FALLS

Woodville

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