ROANOKE CITY (WSLS 10) - Comparing road conditions between cities and counties in southwest Virginia after the snow storm revealed differences in how governments handle snow removal.
Roads in the City of Roanoke appeared for some to get less attention than roads in the county and in Salem. The city answered some questions about why that was.
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Roanoke City officials said they did not use special chemicals like calcium chloride, a chemical that works with salt to melt snow at temperatures lower than what salt alone can handle, to treat roads because it's too costly. The city of Roanoke just use salt to treat the roads.
The City of Salem uses calcium chloride and salt which has helped melt snow off the roads.
The City of Roanoke's Transportation Division Manager, Mark Jamison explained, "We used to have a 5,000 gallon tank of calcium chloride. It is very expensive so what we had, we used up and you're trying to balance how much time and effort and money you spend. That doesn't happen very often."
VDOT provides some help, but said it does use a lot of chemicals on secondary roads since they can damage pavement and create potholes.
However, VDOT says it does use chemicals such as salt and calcium chloride to treat major roads.
Jamison said, as far as clearing the roads moving forward, because of the low temperatures, it's unrealistic to see streets cleared down to the blacktop in neighborhoods.