FREDRICKSBURG — Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Fredericksburg District began treating I-95 and the surrounding area ahead of the anticipated second snow event.
This preparation comes after an emergency operation that had hundreds of travelers stuck on I-95 for over 24 hours. This includes Sen. Tim Kaine who was stuck on the roads for about 27 hours.
At around 9 a.m., VDOT began an operation to apply pre-treatment salt brine solution to I-95 in the Fredricksburg area. The roads are expected to remain dry prior to the anticipated snow tonight. This allowed VDOT to pre-treat major travel routes. The pre-treatment is done as a preventative to stop ice from bonding to the pavement during inclement weather conditions.
VDOT says that tanker trucks applying salt brine solution travel at approximately 35 mph because slower travel speeds are required to spray the salt brine onto travel lanes with precision and to ensure that an adequate amount is absorbed in the pavement.
VDOT encourages motorists to delay unnecessary travel, but if you must travel:
- Plan to allow extra travel time
- Significantly reduce your speed
- Wear your seat belt
- Increase following distance between vehicles to add reaction time
- Clean snow and ice from your vehicle before starting a trip. This will improve your visibility of the road ahead, and it will prevent snow and ice from becoming a flying debris hazard for other travelers.
More information can be found online on VDOT’s Facebook and Twitter page. Motorists are encouraged to use the VDOT snow plow tracker.
