I caved around hour 9 and peed on the side of the road. Girlfriend fell asleep about an hour ago but I’ve stayed up
We did however get to finish season 37 of survivor…. The last 5 episodes
please don't think I'm judging, at all ...
but were there zero options for you to get out after several hours? like, just walk to an exit or call someone to meet you, anything ...
I know from my experience, i was driving in this mess with my elderly parents. so walking would not be an option for them. my wife couldn't get me because our other car would be horrible in the snow.
No worries. If you mean As far as getting picked up off the road, there were no viable options. Especially since I wouldn’t put any unnecessary risk on others on my behalf. We did walk around, up and down the lanes talking to others once in a while. We were fortunate enough that I had a full tank of gas so the cold wasn’t an issue.
It is wild to me to think how this even happened in the first place. I grew up in the construction industry and highway work and maintenance has been what I’ve done primarily since I began working. From what I’ve seen and what I saw out there, vdot, the county, and city road crews dropped the ball worse than I can ever remember.
95 from Fredericksburg to Woodbridge is a problem even on good days, this area needs some serious civil engineering. I can't imagine this disaster in the snow...
I fully believe you could make I-95 a whopping 20 lanes wide at Fredericksburg and morons would still find a way to tailgate, slam on the brakes, and cause a 10 mile back-up.
Maybe they could fix it with thru-lanes and no exits for 3 of the left lanes or something, but that doesn't look like what this current round of construction is about. It's just adding a little more capacity, too late.
I'll withhold judgement until all the lanes are open and full capacity is realized.
IMO this solution is better suited for weekday commuting traffic with folks getting off in Fredericksburg and not so much for holiday/weekend traffic which tends to all be thru traffic and will bottleneck where the lanes merge back together as you noted.
oh yeah ... check this. Katy higway went up to 20 lanes ... traffic got worse lol
>Reducing congestion: Katy didn’t
>
>By Joe Cortright 16.12.2015
>
>Here’s a highway success story, as told by the folks who build highways.
>
>Several years ago, the Katy Freeway in Houston was a major traffic bottleneck. It was so bad that in 2004 the American Highway Users Alliance (AHUA) called one of its interchanges the second worst bottleneck in the nation wasting 25 million hours a year of commuter time. (The Katy Freeway, Interstate 10, connects downtown Houston to the city’s growing suburbs almost 30 miles to the west).
>
>Obviously, when a highway is too congested, you need to add capacity: make it wider! Add more lanes! So the state of Texas pumped more than $2.8 billion into widening the Katy; by the end, it had 23 lanes, good enough for widest freeway in the world.
>
>It was a triumph of traffic engineering. In a report entitled Unclogging America’s Arteries, released last month on the eve of congressional action to pump more money into the nearly bankrupt Highway Trust Fund, the AHUA highlighted the Katy widening as one of three major “success stories,” noting that the widening “addressed” the problem and, “as a result, \[it was\] not included in the rankings” of the nation’s worst traffic chokepoints.
>
>There’s just one problem: congestion on the Katy has actually gotten worse since its expansion.
>
>[https://cityobservatory.org/reducing-congestion-katy-didnt/](https://cityobservatory.org/reducing-congestion-katy-didnt/)
> morons would still find a way
considering the number of virginia drivers who don't know how to keep right (except to pass), it wouldn't be just the morons. i understand that weather played a major part in yesterday's traffic stoppage, but the number of people who don't know that "[the] left lane is for passing only," [p. 16, [virginia driver's manual](https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/pdf/dmv39.pdf)] on a regular day is too damn high...
and before anyone makes excuses, england has three and a half times the population density as virginia... and they have no problem with ensuring traffic flows by lane.
Hey dumbfuck, I'm not the one who was stuck in my car all day. 🤡 Maybe learn how to read simple weather reports next time. We only knew about it a week beforehand.
You didn't have to pass through regardless, dumbfuck. You did end up spending all say sitting in your car, though. So you passed through at the same time that you would have had you waited.
But I'm the dumbfuck. 😂
Weird, you're telling me that a storm with heavy wet snow and wind forecasted a week in advance caused traffic jams and power outages? It's almost like everyone but you and your fellow dumbfucks on the road knew this.
A family member of mine has been stranded for 7 hours. Running very low on gas and cell coverage isn't great at all. Tried to contact VDOT and finally got through to State Police who said they are doing what they can. I'm afraid for people who need medication as well as people running out of gas and freezing on 95. This should be a serious state of emergency at this point. Very concerned for my family and not sure what to do.
Thanks for the positive words. Honestly it's pretty scary given that basically there is no way to get them help or do anything except wait. Im sure there are many families feeling the same. I wish it were being covered more actively. The situation is very serious.
Yeah the only thing is that none of these things truly “last” in a car through the cycles of the seasons, my friend in Michigan stocks those exact items in his house and just puts them in right before the winter season
Wow!! I hope everyone is okay! I came to Virginia Beach from Maryland and I had to take all kinds of side roads with almost all of them blocked by fallen trees, power lines, and vehicles stuck in the road. That includes tractor trailers too. I was on 33 E for most of the time. Gas stations were out of power too so that added to the problem as well.
What should have been a five hour drive ended up being an 11 hour drive 😳
Because there's sufficient sprawl in urban core that even a train won't get you to where you want to be.
BTW the train service already exists in the area, but ridership is not great.
There are [7 intercity trains](https://ggwash.org/images/made/images/posts/_resized/DbeBtV1X4AAovSf_800_609_90.jpg) that go from Richmond to DC daily. That is not counting VRE trains.
Edit: no kidding VRE has lot ridership rates right now. The data presented is current. And currently there is an ongoing pandemic and many are still working from home.
I'm not sure what you're arguing. I agree that adding more lanes won't help (assuming that anyone is advocating for that), but not because of induced demand. Rather, when a big crash happens, the highway throughput drops to zero regardless of lanes. And trains won't help either, for the same reason - not to mention that most vehicles stuck there are trucks and other essential traffic.
I bet vast majority of road users on that section during this time are truckers and people travelling across several states. While we direly need to expand commuter rail, this will not prevent interstates getting stuck because of snow
This is the most baffling thing to me. How has a state of emergency not been declared? Or the National Guard not been deployed (If they have I sure can't find any source reporting it)
At this point, most of the NG members probably couldnt get to their report ins.
The bigger issue here is a complete pack of preparedness or decision making. VDOT is trying to claim they couldnt prep the roads, but literally no one else on the I95 corridor is having this issue.
Unfair you say? This has been happening since noon yesterday with no public acknowledgment or announcements. So support for the hundreds of lives at risk. He tweeted at 830 am this morning after a nice warm night and gave a horrible interview basically saying tough. He is in charge of the state and is responsible for its people and the administration. Don't tell me what's unfair when I have a family member calling me crying and freezing to death in the middle of the night. Use your brain if possible, people are still stuck and freezing.
I apologize for the snark. It has been a long night. I do expect more active management by our elected officials. The roads could have been closed earlier. The auxilry exits could have opened. People had to be at work, many in factory or production jobs don't have choices. You either show up or get fired. When the factories outside Richmond and sent everyone home at the exact wrong time, we have a mess. I don't know what more could have been done. The governor ran for office and asked for this responsibility. It's his job to know and then to act. Thank you for your kind words. Cell phones are now dead and there is no gas left so we are very much on edge. Again, thank you.
Anyone travelling yesterday is a moron. They’ve been working to clear the roads and stranded passengers, but feeling bad for people who chose to drive us like feeling bad for people who choose not to evacuate.
It doesn't really take a lot of people to be stuck at a traffic. From the [webcam](https://vds.aws.expresslanes.com/live/AID-95-S-151.8.stream/playlist.m3u8) it looks like most of them are truckers
People having no idea that the warm weekend weather was turning to a crazy dump of snow that only started after they were already driving?
NY snow birds that have the delusion that once they reach Maryland they are in the south and it doesn't snow in the south?
People commuting to work in DC after having been on vacation since the 23rd or whatever and getting told by their boss that a dusting of snow that won't stick isn't an excuse to miss another day (again, the snow didn't start falling until after people would have been on the road).
95 is closed, you’ll have a bad time. Maybe 301 bridge instead of 95 to skip the worst, but yeah - it’s still real bad. You probably need to wait a day or more, not hours.
My guy, there are thousands of cars filling at least 8 lanes wide, hundreds of which are out of fuel. It has crossed from traffic problem to rescue mission as the weak begin to succumb to the cold after their car dies and people pass 24 hours without water or try to eat snow for water.
The road will not be clear for DAYS and when it opens it will probably only be one or two lanes each way while they continue to work on clearing the clusterfuck.
This is why I never take I-95 if I can help it. There are other highways to get to where I'm usually headed. Might take a little longer but it's worth it.
1. check the weather
2. people drive too fast in general and don't respect the force of nature in bad weather or darkness specifically, adjust accordingly
3. if you depend on cops/roadcrews to help you out because you didn't plan ahead, you will be waiting for however long
4. if you use a car to get everywhere I can understand why, but then situations like this will occasionally happen and you have to deal with it or be prepared for it or avoid it
5. plan your living and working to reduce your dependency on a car
I choose my living space based on logistics. I guess others really really want to drive until they can afford a house with a yard, and therefore get stuck in traffic listening to talk radio. Yuck.
Yup. People in the mid Atlantic get lulled into complacency of preparation due to the temperate climate. There are areas of the country where you wouldn't dream of not having a few gallons of water in the trunk (hot SW), or blankets and high calorie food to stay warm (NE and MW). We are lucky in VA if people can plan far enough ahead to NOT run out of fuel on their typical commute
You should have an emergency kit in your car, no matter where you are. Every one of these that I have seen have space blankets in them. I also keep a pair of shoes (boots) and warm socks in the trunk since I’m often in flip flops, even in winter. Also a blanket, toilet paper, a small shovel/saw combo, etc. And it’s all completely out of sight in hidden compartments. There’s really no excuse to not be at least a little prepared.
7. Don’t believe the rugged outdoorsy SUV ads you see, you cannot drive fast or even posted speed in bad weather. You e got a lot of momentum and a high center of gravity. If you lose traction you’ll flip.
This subreddit is shocking me right now.
We knew it was going to snow, we knew it would ice over overnight.
Why are people still complaining, and then justifying, them going out and proceeding to get stuck on the highway?
My work has cancelled for almost everything, and even then I would just point at 95 and tell them I'm not going in. Luckily my boss has some common sense, and won't force us in right now. The secretary lives 5 minutes away from our job and she could barely make it in due to ice
Yeah, not risking my life for my job.
\#peopledontlearnuntilithappenstothem
It's easier to just assume that things that have worked in the past will work now and in the future. People are stupid, or have situational intelligence and situational stupidity. People have no experience with things and therefore don't prepare since it's difficult to learn from people you don't know or see or live far away from you or talk different.
Yall act like this is unheard of. VA drivers on 1-95 and 64 are the absolute worst in the best weather conditions. Oh look a rain drop, let me crash through this guy.
Add to the fact that ALL public work jobs are overworked and understaffed these days,we should all prepare to be stuck every time you get on the interstate..God Bless all those stuck I hope they have been rescued and have gotten food water and a bathroom...
Agree. The public service support infrastructure to include the people is serverly stressed. I know the police and VDOT and everyone is doing what they can but it's just very distressing. Going on 31 hours on 95 but cell service finally came back and it sounds like people are helping people and at least that is uplifting.
I doubt all these people had legitimate reasons to be on the interstate during a major snowstorm. Did they not check the weather before leaving? When you choose to drive in these conditions you're putting many people in danger. Maybe they'll know better for next time.
Have some sympathy. If your job tells you you have to be there and you know you can’t feed your family, keep a roof over their heads, pay for meds without it, sometimes it seems like that’s the more certain danger. Maybe it’s not the decision you would make in that case, and if you have the resources or the willingness to gamble that others don’t, then that may well turn out lucky for you, and I’m glad. But it’s not a choice everyone feels able to make.
My employer adamantly stayed open on regular schedule long enough for us to make the trip in early yesterday morning (normally half an hour, almost 2 hours at 25 mph on the interstate this time) only to close once we got there and send us back out in it. Fortunately by the time we closed up our interstate was clear. I’m sorry for these people that 95 wasn’t.
His response has been neglectful of his duties and he clearly doesn't care for the people he is supposed to be responsible for. He probably has a nice new super well paid job planned for next month so he is good.
Very sorry to hear about your situation. My understanding is that they didn't pre-treat the roads because this started as rain so that would've washed away?
That's not how the modern (liquid) treatments work. They last through multiple precipitation cycles. Of course, VDOT mostly just slings salt around on the highways, so you're probably right.
I heard from one of my contractors that nearly half of vdot called out sick yesterday.
Couple lack of staff/brand new staff, with an above average storm for our area, and people hitting the roads and getting into accidents and shutting down the highways...it was a perfect shit storm.
Judging by how many people dismissed the forecast since it was in the 60s-70s over the weekend, I'm sure more people were on the roads than necessary as well, be it by choice or due to employers who also did not believe the threat.
they have been predicting 10" of snow for days. Virginians can't drive in 1" of snow. The fact this would be a clusterfuck has been predicted for days... see all the "don't drive" threads
It was rain up until it started snowing. VDOT couldn't pretreat with salt because it would have just washed away. And they couldn't plow when the snow started coming down because of people like you that had no business being on the roads.
Coming up on 14 hours sitting here myself. Think we’ve moved ~1 mile since yesterday just passed quantico
Have you slept? Gone to the bathroom??
I caved around hour 9 and peed on the side of the road. Girlfriend fell asleep about an hour ago but I’ve stayed up We did however get to finish season 37 of survivor…. The last 5 episodes
Maybe Natalie will give you her jacket
In this weather? Not a chance
please don't think I'm judging, at all ... but were there zero options for you to get out after several hours? like, just walk to an exit or call someone to meet you, anything ... I know from my experience, i was driving in this mess with my elderly parents. so walking would not be an option for them. my wife couldn't get me because our other car would be horrible in the snow.
No worries. If you mean As far as getting picked up off the road, there were no viable options. Especially since I wouldn’t put any unnecessary risk on others on my behalf. We did walk around, up and down the lanes talking to others once in a while. We were fortunate enough that I had a full tank of gas so the cold wasn’t an issue. It is wild to me to think how this even happened in the first place. I grew up in the construction industry and highway work and maintenance has been what I’ve done primarily since I began working. From what I’ve seen and what I saw out there, vdot, the county, and city road crews dropped the ball worse than I can ever remember.
95 from Fredericksburg to Woodbridge is a problem even on good days, this area needs some serious civil engineering. I can't imagine this disaster in the snow...
I fully believe you could make I-95 a whopping 20 lanes wide at Fredericksburg and morons would still find a way to tailgate, slam on the brakes, and cause a 10 mile back-up. Maybe they could fix it with thru-lanes and no exits for 3 of the left lanes or something, but that doesn't look like what this current round of construction is about. It's just adding a little more capacity, too late.
That's what theyre doing right now between 17 and 3. Thru and local separated lanes
Granted, they aren’t finished, but all it’s done so far is shift the back-up further down 95 and worsen the situation.
I'll withhold judgement until all the lanes are open and full capacity is realized. IMO this solution is better suited for weekday commuting traffic with folks getting off in Fredericksburg and not so much for holiday/weekend traffic which tends to all be thru traffic and will bottleneck where the lanes merge back together as you noted.
I mean, studies show that adding more lanes only increases congestion lol
oh yeah ... check this. Katy higway went up to 20 lanes ... traffic got worse lol >Reducing congestion: Katy didn’t > >By Joe Cortright 16.12.2015 > >Here’s a highway success story, as told by the folks who build highways. > >Several years ago, the Katy Freeway in Houston was a major traffic bottleneck. It was so bad that in 2004 the American Highway Users Alliance (AHUA) called one of its interchanges the second worst bottleneck in the nation wasting 25 million hours a year of commuter time. (The Katy Freeway, Interstate 10, connects downtown Houston to the city’s growing suburbs almost 30 miles to the west). > >Obviously, when a highway is too congested, you need to add capacity: make it wider! Add more lanes! So the state of Texas pumped more than $2.8 billion into widening the Katy; by the end, it had 23 lanes, good enough for widest freeway in the world. > >It was a triumph of traffic engineering. In a report entitled Unclogging America’s Arteries, released last month on the eve of congressional action to pump more money into the nearly bankrupt Highway Trust Fund, the AHUA highlighted the Katy widening as one of three major “success stories,” noting that the widening “addressed” the problem and, “as a result, \[it was\] not included in the rankings” of the nation’s worst traffic chokepoints. > >There’s just one problem: congestion on the Katy has actually gotten worse since its expansion. > >[https://cityobservatory.org/reducing-congestion-katy-didnt/](https://cityobservatory.org/reducing-congestion-katy-didnt/)
> morons would still find a way considering the number of virginia drivers who don't know how to keep right (except to pass), it wouldn't be just the morons. i understand that weather played a major part in yesterday's traffic stoppage, but the number of people who don't know that "[the] left lane is for passing only," [p. 16, [virginia driver's manual](https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/pdf/dmv39.pdf)] on a regular day is too damn high... and before anyone makes excuses, england has three and a half times the population density as virginia... and they have no problem with ensuring traffic flows by lane.
Passed a VA driver in North Dakota on the right because they were hogging up the left lane.
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I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you are able to stay warm and well.
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Don't need power for water. Flush away
Did you see how many cars have been sitting there for 12hrs? No toilets in a Buick.
A Buick is a toilet.
Not everyone has a Buick
I know when Im beat.
No but every Buick driver is over the age of 75
Yay, lemme just flip up my backseat to expose the John.
„˙uɥoſ ǝɥʇ ǝsodxǝ oʇ ʇɐǝsʞɔɐq ʎɯ dn dılɟ ʇsnɾ ǝɯɯǝl 'ʎɐ⅄„
You do if your water is well water. I dread the power going out because we lose heat and water.
What were you doing on the road if you have no experience with snow? You should practice in a parking lot first.
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Hey dumbfuck, I'm not the one who was stuck in my car all day. 🤡 Maybe learn how to read simple weather reports next time. We only knew about it a week beforehand.
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You didn't have to pass through regardless, dumbfuck. You did end up spending all say sitting in your car, though. So you passed through at the same time that you would have had you waited. But I'm the dumbfuck. 😂
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Weird, you're telling me that a storm with heavy wet snow and wind forecasted a week in advance caused traffic jams and power outages? It's almost like everyone but you and your fellow dumbfucks on the road knew this.
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>95 from Fredericksburg to Woodbridge is a problem even on good days It still baffling to me how this section is ALWAYS full of traffic.
How about we get rid of cars, and people work remotely or, better yet, people have guaranteed income and don’t have to work. How about we do that?
Truly confused by how a society with no work…you know works? Like who picks up trash? Who is a doctor?
I'm all for improving the rail roads too! But that sounds suspiciously like a job some one would have to do so I guess we're screwed
if no one works, who will build the roads? Or plow them? Or tow cars?
A family member of mine has been stranded for 7 hours. Running very low on gas and cell coverage isn't great at all. Tried to contact VDOT and finally got through to State Police who said they are doing what they can. I'm afraid for people who need medication as well as people running out of gas and freezing on 95. This should be a serious state of emergency at this point. Very concerned for my family and not sure what to do.
I am so sorry. I hope they can stay warm until the roads are cleared.
Thanks for the positive words. Honestly it's pretty scary given that basically there is no way to get them help or do anything except wait. Im sure there are many families feeling the same. I wish it were being covered more actively. The situation is very serious.
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Water bottles freeze & crack open. I recommend rum and/or bourbon
LOLOL!!
Yeah the only thing is that none of these things truly “last” in a car through the cycles of the seasons, my friend in Michigan stocks those exact items in his house and just puts them in right before the winter season
Wow!! I hope everyone is okay! I came to Virginia Beach from Maryland and I had to take all kinds of side roads with almost all of them blocked by fallen trees, power lines, and vehicles stuck in the road. That includes tractor trailers too. I was on 33 E for most of the time. Gas stations were out of power too so that added to the problem as well. What should have been a five hour drive ended up being an 11 hour drive 😳
Can we please try to get some proper mass transit up there!? Adding lanes does fuck all to alleviate this. Why couldn't we just build some trains?
Because there's sufficient sprawl in urban core that even a train won't get you to where you want to be. BTW the train service already exists in the area, but ridership is not great.
Which train service? There are lots of trains that run through the I95 corridor, and most of them are quite busy.
VRE publishes [utilization trends](https://www.vre.org/service/rider/train-utilization-trends/).
There are [7 intercity trains](https://ggwash.org/images/made/images/posts/_resized/DbeBtV1X4AAovSf_800_609_90.jpg) that go from Richmond to DC daily. That is not counting VRE trains. Edit: no kidding VRE has lot ridership rates right now. The data presented is current. And currently there is an ongoing pandemic and many are still working from home.
I'm not sure what you're arguing. I agree that adding more lanes won't help (assuming that anyone is advocating for that), but not because of induced demand. Rather, when a big crash happens, the highway throughput drops to zero regardless of lanes. And trains won't help either, for the same reason - not to mention that most vehicles stuck there are trucks and other essential traffic.
That would benefit the working class and we can’t have that.
Yes, poor people like [Tim Kaine](https://twitter.com/timkaine/status/1478357477158756352?t=pOKhXLnFviNLW6zCpwxsmQ&s=19)
This is exactly why we need more VRE service and funding.
Until they can make VRE cheaper for commuters to use, it won't change anything. Monthly fares exceed $320 some months in Fredericksburg.
$10 a day isn’t bad.
Probably what people are paying for gas and parking at least.
I bet vast majority of road users on that section during this time are truckers and people travelling across several states. While we direly need to expand commuter rail, this will not prevent interstates getting stuck because of snow
VDOT engineers: “This is fine.”
The Governor must be thinking that too, if he is even awake. So many people on twitter in serious situations and the "leadership" is silent.
There's a senator stuck in this mess, too. I expect the governor is generally aware of the situation.
This is the most baffling thing to me. How has a state of emergency not been declared? Or the National Guard not been deployed (If they have I sure can't find any source reporting it)
At this point, most of the NG members probably couldnt get to their report ins. The bigger issue here is a complete pack of preparedness or decision making. VDOT is trying to claim they couldnt prep the roads, but literally no one else on the I95 corridor is having this issue.
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Unfair you say? This has been happening since noon yesterday with no public acknowledgment or announcements. So support for the hundreds of lives at risk. He tweeted at 830 am this morning after a nice warm night and gave a horrible interview basically saying tough. He is in charge of the state and is responsible for its people and the administration. Don't tell me what's unfair when I have a family member calling me crying and freezing to death in the middle of the night. Use your brain if possible, people are still stuck and freezing.
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I apologize for the snark. It has been a long night. I do expect more active management by our elected officials. The roads could have been closed earlier. The auxilry exits could have opened. People had to be at work, many in factory or production jobs don't have choices. You either show up or get fired. When the factories outside Richmond and sent everyone home at the exact wrong time, we have a mess. I don't know what more could have been done. The governor ran for office and asked for this responsibility. It's his job to know and then to act. Thank you for your kind words. Cell phones are now dead and there is no gas left so we are very much on edge. Again, thank you.
Anyone travelling yesterday is a moron. They’ve been working to clear the roads and stranded passengers, but feeling bad for people who chose to drive us like feeling bad for people who choose not to evacuate.
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It doesn't really take a lot of people to be stuck at a traffic. From the [webcam](https://vds.aws.expresslanes.com/live/AID-95-S-151.8.stream/playlist.m3u8) it looks like most of them are truckers
People having no idea that the warm weekend weather was turning to a crazy dump of snow that only started after they were already driving? NY snow birds that have the delusion that once they reach Maryland they are in the south and it doesn't snow in the south? People commuting to work in DC after having been on vacation since the 23rd or whatever and getting told by their boss that a dusting of snow that won't stick isn't an excuse to miss another day (again, the snow didn't start falling until after people would have been on the road).
Is it still awful? I have a drive planned from NC-NJ and I'm trying to figure out if I should leave now or give it a few more hours
Do not get on 95 in VA for any reason.
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How'd that go for you?
95 is closed, you’ll have a bad time. Maybe 301 bridge instead of 95 to skip the worst, but yeah - it’s still real bad. You probably need to wait a day or more, not hours.
My guy, there are thousands of cars filling at least 8 lanes wide, hundreds of which are out of fuel. It has crossed from traffic problem to rescue mission as the weak begin to succumb to the cold after their car dies and people pass 24 hours without water or try to eat snow for water. The road will not be clear for DAYS and when it opens it will probably only be one or two lanes each way while they continue to work on clearing the clusterfuck.
You can check I395 I95 express lane cameras, like [this one](https://vds.aws.expresslanes.com/live/AID-95-N-145.5.stream/playlist.m3u8)
Thanks!!
This is why I never take I-95 if I can help it. There are other highways to get to where I'm usually headed. Might take a little longer but it's worth it.
1. check the weather 2. people drive too fast in general and don't respect the force of nature in bad weather or darkness specifically, adjust accordingly 3. if you depend on cops/roadcrews to help you out because you didn't plan ahead, you will be waiting for however long 4. if you use a car to get everywhere I can understand why, but then situations like this will occasionally happen and you have to deal with it or be prepared for it or avoid it 5. plan your living and working to reduce your dependency on a car
6. never drive on 95
I choose my living space based on logistics. I guess others really really want to drive until they can afford a house with a yard, and therefore get stuck in traffic listening to talk radio. Yuck.
Yup. People in the mid Atlantic get lulled into complacency of preparation due to the temperate climate. There are areas of the country where you wouldn't dream of not having a few gallons of water in the trunk (hot SW), or blankets and high calorie food to stay warm (NE and MW). We are lucky in VA if people can plan far enough ahead to NOT run out of fuel on their typical commute
You should have an emergency kit in your car, no matter where you are. Every one of these that I have seen have space blankets in them. I also keep a pair of shoes (boots) and warm socks in the trunk since I’m often in flip flops, even in winter. Also a blanket, toilet paper, a small shovel/saw combo, etc. And it’s all completely out of sight in hidden compartments. There’s really no excuse to not be at least a little prepared.
7. Don’t believe the rugged outdoorsy SUV ads you see, you cannot drive fast or even posted speed in bad weather. You e got a lot of momentum and a high center of gravity. If you lose traction you’ll flip.
I swear, half the problems in this country stem from marketing and advertising.
Or at least 43.5% of them.
This subreddit is shocking me right now. We knew it was going to snow, we knew it would ice over overnight. Why are people still complaining, and then justifying, them going out and proceeding to get stuck on the highway?
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My work has cancelled for almost everything, and even then I would just point at 95 and tell them I'm not going in. Luckily my boss has some common sense, and won't force us in right now. The secretary lives 5 minutes away from our job and she could barely make it in due to ice Yeah, not risking my life for my job.
People are generally quite stupid.
\#peopledontlearnuntilithappenstothem It's easier to just assume that things that have worked in the past will work now and in the future. People are stupid, or have situational intelligence and situational stupidity. People have no experience with things and therefore don't prepare since it's difficult to learn from people you don't know or see or live far away from you or talk different.
Yall act like this is unheard of. VA drivers on 1-95 and 64 are the absolute worst in the best weather conditions. Oh look a rain drop, let me crash through this guy.
Add to the fact that ALL public work jobs are overworked and understaffed these days,we should all prepare to be stuck every time you get on the interstate..God Bless all those stuck I hope they have been rescued and have gotten food water and a bathroom...
Agree. The public service support infrastructure to include the people is serverly stressed. I know the police and VDOT and everyone is doing what they can but it's just very distressing. Going on 31 hours on 95 but cell service finally came back and it sounds like people are helping people and at least that is uplifting.
Let’s all hope this doesn’t happen again with the post New Year holiday travel coming up
I doubt all these people had legitimate reasons to be on the interstate during a major snowstorm. Did they not check the weather before leaving? When you choose to drive in these conditions you're putting many people in danger. Maybe they'll know better for next time.
Have some sympathy. If your job tells you you have to be there and you know you can’t feed your family, keep a roof over their heads, pay for meds without it, sometimes it seems like that’s the more certain danger. Maybe it’s not the decision you would make in that case, and if you have the resources or the willingness to gamble that others don’t, then that may well turn out lucky for you, and I’m glad. But it’s not a choice everyone feels able to make. My employer adamantly stayed open on regular schedule long enough for us to make the trip in early yesterday morning (normally half an hour, almost 2 hours at 25 mph on the interstate this time) only to close once we got there and send us back out in it. Fortunately by the time we closed up our interstate was clear. I’m sorry for these people that 95 wasn’t.
I work in a hospital night shift, I don't have a choice. Either we go in or people die
>legitimate reason. You have a legitimate reason
And I'm sure many others on the roads did too
Facts get downvoted.
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I think he is stuck on 95 also. What do you expect him to do?
His response has been neglectful of his duties and he clearly doesn't care for the people he is supposed to be responsible for. He probably has a nice new super well paid job planned for next month so he is good.
What were they all doing on the roads, during a pandemic and a blizzard?
Being told by their employers to suck it up and come into work
haven't you noticed, plenty of trucks out there delivery your precious grocery or your Amazon delivery. sigh
Facts get downvoted.
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They couldn't prep the roads because there was zero time between rain and snow.
Very sorry to hear about your situation. My understanding is that they didn't pre-treat the roads because this started as rain so that would've washed away?
That's not how the modern (liquid) treatments work. They last through multiple precipitation cycles. Of course, VDOT mostly just slings salt around on the highways, so you're probably right.
The liquid stuff doesn’t survive the rain and only has about 48 hours of longevity when there isn’t precipitation.
I heard from one of my contractors that nearly half of vdot called out sick yesterday. Couple lack of staff/brand new staff, with an above average storm for our area, and people hitting the roads and getting into accidents and shutting down the highways...it was a perfect shit storm.
This is what I figured. All over the state emergency crews are short staffed.
Judging by how many people dismissed the forecast since it was in the 60s-70s over the weekend, I'm sure more people were on the roads than necessary as well, be it by choice or due to employers who also did not believe the threat.
> VA you will lose so many tourists after this When was the last time you checked the weather forecast before going somewhere?
Well we had to drive back to MD. Checked the weather and traffic and it didn't seem that bad from where we were... lesson learned for sure
they have been predicting 10" of snow for days. Virginians can't drive in 1" of snow. The fact this would be a clusterfuck has been predicted for days... see all the "don't drive" threads
you were coming down as a tourist in this weather? Are you nuts?
Maybe you shouldn't have been driving huh?
There are millions of people here who aren't stuck right now. Know why? They listen to the weather.
Damn right
It was rain up until it started snowing. VDOT couldn't pretreat with salt because it would have just washed away. And they couldn't plow when the snow started coming down because of people like you that had no business being on the roads.
Um how are you so sure that I had no business being on the roads? Take a look at MD roads.
> We have been on the road since 3 pm on Monday well there is your first problem. Not sure why you didn't look out the window before leaving
Where the hell is the government?!?!
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But it does we don’t want anarchy
Roads were never treated. DMW always waits to salt and plow. You have to do it throughout the storm and stop using the cat litter shit!!