VDOT snow removal costs tripled budgeted amount

By By Hannah Wever Staff Writer
Published: March 18, 2010

At a March 9 Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting, county officials heard a few cold hard figures about what it cost VDOT to dig the state out of January and February's snow and ice.
VDOT Resident Engineer Don Gore explained that crews spent most of February working battling snow and ice on county roads, after Old Man Winter delivered five separate winter weather events to the area.
According to VDOT District Administrator Jim Utterback, the Culpeper District blew through it's allotted $4.5 million budget for snow removal and road treatments, and spent more than $14 million to clear roads throughout the district. Statewide, Utterback explained, cleaning up from Mother Nature's freezing fury ran up a tab of $180 million, more than double the commonwealth's $80 million budget for winter weather treatment and removal.
Orange County and surrounding areas within the Culpeper District, Utterback said, were some of the hardest hit in the state. During the height of the storm, as many as 720 pieces of equipment were running in the Culpeper District. And from Dec. 18 through Feb. 15, crews worked 12-hour shifts pushing snow and spreading salt and sand for all but five days, he added.
"It really was a historic storm," Utterback said. "It's kind of a historic cost as well."
Just how closing that multi-million dollar gap will be paid for is still up in the air, according VDOT Public Affairs Manager Lou Hatter.
"We're still looking at exactly where we're going to make up that money," Hatter said. To help balance the budget and address the snow removal-related overrun, Hatter said VDOT officials may cut non-safety maintenance functions like mowing.
Now, with roads cleared and nearly nothing remaining from mountains of plowed and frozen mess, VDOT workers are patching potholes on roads across the county, Gore said.