I-95 Virginia storm

Anybody else get stuck on the interstate last night? I slept in my Tacoma near Stafford, VA. Traffic was backed up for miles due to the snow storm. Down to 19 degrees. I love my Tacoma but it’s not made for sleeping…
Took 23 hours to get from Richmond to Alexandria. (102 miles)

 

Yikes - glad your finally at your destination!!

 

Man - I was told to prepare to deploy down in that area for work yesterday. I am glad the deployment got called off. I have been hearing nothing but horror stories in regards to driving on I95 between Baltimore and Richmond.

 

95 can be a shit show when the weather is nice. And that is from FL. to ME.

 

I'd have to agree. Traveled it back from FL to NJ - took lesser routes from NJ to CT. Not so bad north of I-495's intersection with I-95.
I'd rather drive I-81 from Scranton PA to Charlottesville VA then switch back east to I-95, or continue I-81 to I-75 then south to FL. More miles perhaps, but better traffic flow if it's not construction season.

 

Hopefully the guy or gal on the Road Glide had a winter tire on.

 

This is why I left VA...

overcrowded and idiots everywhere. Who TF decides to ride a bike when this kind of weather is expected? Sums up Virgina and all it's surrounding states perfectly.

 

I did the 95 commute for 4 years when I was stationed in DC 2012-2016. Fredericksburg to DC absolutely sucked every day. It was not if there would be an accident it was when. I can not even imagine the HOURS of sitting in 95 traffic I did during those years. In 2019 when we got stationed in DC the second time around, we moved to West Virginia and I took the train until I retired in December 2020.

 

I understand weather was tough with rain first so roads not salted, but VDOT was totally incompetent clearing the roads, didn’t really start clearing until the next morning per news reports. Totally unprepared for what they knew was coming.

 

I was in it for a while at the Southern end of the backup. I could tell it was getting bad when it took us about 1.5 hours to make 1 mile. Luckily, we made it to exit 118 and found a Motel for the night. At the time, I thought I might be stupid for stopping at 1:00 pm but I had vision of sleeping in the truck and decided to wimp out.

 

Any time it snows south of the Mason-Dixon line all roads need to be closed. YOU PEOPLE see a snow flake and there's a 10 mile backup.

 

Saw this. This is my cab camping setup

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ing-or-road-trips-build.712648/#post-25348415

States that usually get zero snow and have no preparations or education on how to handle cold and snow get tossed cold turkey (no pun intended) into 10-12 inches and things go haywire, to be expected Look at Texas - they had a snow storm last year that thrust them into the dark ages. Nobody knew to kill water, etc. because those buildings are poorly insulated and they have one snow plow for the entire state and no salt or snow reserves. As you probably wouldn't either if you were in the desert SW like Texas is.

 

are there not very many exits on that road? all the pictures I have seen shows open shoulders of the road. I mean if I was sitting for couple hours id be on google maps looking for the closest exit. if it was a mile up the road id walk and see if I could drive the shoulder all the way up. and or start to talk people into clearing the road themselves. I dunno maybe it wouldn't be feasible

 

Dang, that's a sweet platform. Perfect for the solo traveler.

 

I can see that in the states that don't get snow often, but VA does get snow and should have had a plan.

 

I think the criticism is fair. As part of running the state, his administration manages VDOT. I-95 is a major commercial thoroughfare, there will be trucks and cars on it 24/7 regardless of weather. Also, this isn't the first time something like this has happen. It wasn't that long ago that the same type of event happened on I-66 near Dulles. I don't think the excuse that VA doesn't get snow often is gonna fly. They can't throw their hands up and not keep one of the busiest sketches of interstate clear.

This was the only article I could find from 10 years ago, but I think it happened more recently too. https://www.arlnow.com/2011/01/26/breaking-news-motorists-still-stranded-on-gw-parkway-i-66/

Either way, the blame doesn't fall only on the governor. I don't know why we act like MD and VA don't get snow every year. But somehow every year it's like a surprise. No one is prepared, no one knows how to drive in it, they do know how or simply can't plow the roads effectively and apparently everyone is always out of bread, milk, eggs and toilet paper (hint...you don't need a month's supply for 2" of snow).

 

*laughs in bidet*

That was the best decision I've probably ever made.

 

Same. It's really the only way.