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Lots of commutes have been longer than typical within the D.C. area since a winter storm dropped snow and sleet practically two weeks in the past, abandoning thick ice on roadways.
Lots of commutes have been longer than typical within the D.C. area since a winter storm dropped snow and sleet practically two weeks in the past, abandoning thick ice on roadways.
Among these drivers spending some additional time on the street is a commuter who takes the Beltway; she stated ice is protecting the lanes to transition from the Wilson Bridge to Interstate 295.
“First lane on the left and then a lane on the right are lost, causing major traffic backups,” she instructed WTOP. “A week and a half since the snowstorm, and there’s no sign that there’s been any effort to clear it, melt it or anything, which is really frustrating.”
She’s considered one of many drivers who instructed WTOP that leftover wintry climate continues to create journey complications — particularly within the type of nonexistent flip lanes or merge lanes.
Many of these drivers who reached out to WTOP stated the climate has prolonged the size of their commute, with some even reporting that it’s doubled.
WTOP Traffic Reporter Dave Dildine stated 4 locations have been hardest hit by delays: Rockville, Bethesda, Bowie in Maryland and Old Town Alexandria in Virginia.
“It wasn’t widespread ice, it was piles of it at sensitive points in the road network,” Dildine stated. “A merge lane crowded here, a turn lane cover there. But it all added up to tremendous recurring backups in certain places.”
One driver instructed WTOP he couldn’t get by way of downtown Bethesda.
“The police could have been out directing traffic,” he stated. “There could have been a combined effort to remove the snow between state and county officials.”
Ice-covered lanes are forcing some drivers emigrate towards the middle of the roadways — inflicting gridlock.
“The delays that we’ve been seeing this week are something that I haven’t seen in past snowstorms,” WTOP Traffic Reporter Reada Kessler stated.
The backups have been at their worse through the morning and night rush hours.
“When you’re driving on these roads and you suddenly lose a lane, people have to merge over very quickly,” Kessler stated. “And if people aren’t watching, that’s where the accidents or the crashes are going to happen.”
Outside of touring on the roads, discovering a spot to park may be difficult too.
“In D.C., the parking is terrible still. All the parking spots being filled with mountains of ice,” a girl who commutes by way of D.C. instructed WTOP.
That appears to have led some determined drivers to park the place they shouldn’t.
“There’s a lot of questionable parking jobs,” she stated. “I saw one person parked just in the road by Sibley Hospital, and I was shocked it hadn’t been hit by a car on my way to work.”
Dildine did discover a slight enchancment Thursday night time.
“The backups weren’t off the charts,” Dildine stated. “A couple of days above freezing. Progress is progress.”
WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.
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