ROANOKE, Va. – The City of Roanoke is getting ready for the winter weather by keeping the roads as clear as they can. However, crews can only do so much.
Which is why the city is asking drivers to do their best to keep the roads clear by doing one of two things: park in either your own driveway and/or garages or park on one side of the street.
Roanoke Transportation Division Manager Dwayne D’Ardenne said that, by leaving as much space as possible on the roads, this will give the plows more room to push the snow, and trucks more room to salt the streets.
“Once we get through the arterials and collectors and valley metro routes, we’ll move into the neighborhoods,” D’Ardenne said. “That is hindered many times by on-street parking, so if folks have a driveway or if they park off-street, that’ll be helpful.”
That is easier said than done, especially if the streets don’t have much space to begin with.
Local businesses like Evie’s Bistro and Bakery have first-hand knowledge of this.
“The streets in Old Southwest are a little bit more narrow, so it will make things a little bit more trickier.” Amelia Ammann - Owner/Operator of Evie’s Bistro and Bakery - said.
D’Ardenne, however, offered a solution.
“If you have to park on both sides, alternate so that you’ve got a car and you’ve got a space and another car,” D’Ardenne said. “If you two cars blocked up, then that delays or limits the ability for the snow plow to get through your street. That delays the process and I know we don’t want that.”
Crews have already started applying anti-icing liquid salt to the streets, but if they want to continue treating the roads as quickly as possible, they are asking for people to help out where they can.
“When stuff like this happens, when big mother nature storms and stuff happen, the great thing about Roanoke that I find is that everybody pulls together as a community and we all help each other,” Ammann said.