Photo by Tim Brown

Thirty six hours after efforts began to shovel the District of Columbia out, officials said they’ve made significant progress in making major streets and arteries passable—but several days of cleanup still lie ahead.

“We’re going to be dealing with snow all of this week,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “We have over 4400 miles of roadway, and we are making our way through all of it. We have a lot of ground to cover.”

Those efforts are complicated by the nature of the urban environment, according to the Christopher Geldart, the director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. “We’re not just plowing [snow] off the sides of streets like in some suburban areas. We have to open up lanes so people have to travel—and then we have to get it out of there,” he said.

Residents can see check on their individual streets to see if they’ve been plowed, or follow the city’s progress on an interactive map.

Rather than spreading plowing resources thinly throughout the city, Geldart said they are moving methodically, neighborhood by neighborhood, to clear the roads. With this kind of heavy snowfall, “we’re really concentrating on hitting hard and then moving on to the next sector,” he said.

In addition to an influx of equipment from other jurisdictions around the country, the city is recruiting people experienced with snow removal to help relieve crews.

While the reading at DCA (located in Virginia, but nonetheless D.C.’s official weather station) was 17.8 inches, the Capital Weather Gang has said it may have been compromised by the method of measurement. Geldart said that his agency has seen snowfalls ranging from 20 to 23 inches in D.C., with the higher end especially in the Northwest.

With rising temperatures, roads are likely to become icy and dangerous. “We are still in a snow emergency in Washington, D.C. and I’m operating under a state of emergency,” Bowser reminded residents. “I continue to urge people to stay off the roads.”

In a twelve hour period, 106 cars were towed yesterday. That’s 106 times that snow plows had to stop and wait around—in many cases for a crane—for those cars to be removed, said D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier. Residents can call 311 to find out where their vehicles were moved to.

Trash pick-up is suspended today and tomorrow, and likely Wednesday, the mayor said. She also reminded residents that it is illegal to dump residential trash in city trash cans. A decision about reopening schools will be made later in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Metro has opened up all stations in the District except for Benning Road and is offering free rides. In addition, there will be 24 bus routes operating from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on “lifeline service” (they includes routes to BWI and Dulles).

Geldart praised the city’s efforts to coordinate. “We are sharing resources across agencies, Pepco is sharing with Metro, we’re sharing resources across the board. This is a giant team effort under the leadership of the mayor,” he said. “The resources and leaderships that was put into this … it’s unprecedented.”

When asked if the city would have the budget to deal with future snow events this year, Bowser responded flatly: yes. Geldart noted that they are seeking federal resources to help fund these efforts.