Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said he’s gotten the message from frustrated residents about conflicting messaging on the progress of snow plowing efforts.
After days of attacking the ice and snow that stopped the region in its tracks, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said he’s gotten the message from frustrated residents about conflicting messaging on the progress of snow plowing efforts.
The county’s plow tracker, designed to show the progress of snow clearing operations, had incorrectly reported that 100% of residential streets had been plowed, Elrich said.
“The tracking system’s useful, but it’s not perfect,” he said.
So, Elrich said, the county is resetting the snow tracker data, “and that level will not change” until the county has completed its work on residential streets.
As of Wednesday morning, Montgomery County Department of Transportation Director Chris Conklin said the county had plowed 90% of the county’s roads.
“Plowed streets are likely to still have snow and ice cover, but they should be passable by most vehicles,” Elrich said.
Conklin said his department has gotten complaints that indicate some residents feel their neighborhoods are being neglected.
“I recognize there are some streets that haven’t got the attention they deserve,” he said. “We have as many complaints about unplowed streets in Bethesda as we do in Aspen Hill or Silver Spring.”
The county is trying to weigh those concerns equally, according to Conklin.
“Please know that we are not picking and choosing favorites in how we handle these snow requests,” Conklin added.
Much of the work has been completed in Bethesda, Wheaton, Clarksburg and Germantown, he said, and crews were assigned to Silver Spring overnight Wednesday.
Communication and technology issues
Both Elrich and Conklin said crews have been working nonstop to clear the snow and ice since the weekend, taking a toll on some of the county’s snow removal equipment.
Conklin said there have been transmission, rear differential and hydraulic system failures affecting how the plow itself is operated.
“Nothing unusual when a piece of equipment is in extreme use and under extreme stress,” he said. “A lot of this plow equipment is designed to move lighter snow, as the county executive mentioned … and not at the degree of hardening we’ve had.”
County crews have also had to assist WSSC Water, as the water utility company has been dealing with multiple water main breaks in the frigid weather.
A source of frustration for many residents calling 311 or going online to get their streets plowed or treated is that many of the requests were categorized as “closed” when they had yet to be dealt with.
Elrich referred to that as a “communications challenge.”
“It’s not actually closed until the operation team mobilizes people to deal with it,” Elrich said.
Victoria Lewis, the 311 director for Montgomery County, said, “We are certainly investigating from our end, what is happening that’s causing this issue.”
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