North Tidewater News

A winter weather warning has been issued for Hampton Roads, with forecasts predicting 8-12 inches of snow and freezing temperatures starting Wednesday morning through Thursday. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has cautioned that significant snowfall, strong wind gusts, and sub-freezing temperatures will create hazardous travel conditions. Motorists are advised to avoid traveling during and after the storm until conditions improve.

VDOT's Hampton Roads District has completed pretreatment of state-maintained roadways and initiated 24-hour operations as of Wednesday morning. Crews will work in 12-hour shifts to treat and clear snow from interstates and state-maintained roads. The anticipated high snowfall rates may require multiple passes by trucks to make roads passable, meaning bare pavement might not be visible immediately after the storm.

Priority is given to roads carrying the most traffic. VDOT focuses first on making interstates and primary roads (routes numbered 1 to 599) passable, followed by major secondary roads (routes numbered 600 and higher) with essential facilities or high traffic volumes. Low-volume secondary roads and subdivision streets will be addressed once higher-priority routes are cleared.

To assist snow plowing operations, the Norfolk Reversible Express Lanes will remain open westbound until as early as 11 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 20.

VDOT maintains over 900 lane miles of interstates, more than 1,800 lane miles of primary roads, and over 7,270 miles of secondary roads in Hampton Roads. Individual municipalities maintain their own roadways.

For those who must travel, VDOT offers a free mobile app providing information about road conditions, traffic incidents, construction, congestion, access to traffic cameras, weather updates, and more at 511.vdot.virginia.gov or by calling 511 within Virginia.

Questions or reports about hazardous road conditions can be directed to VDOT’s Customer Service Center via my.vdot.virginia.gov or by calling 800-FOR-ROAD (367-7623). More information on winter weather travel is available on VDOT’s weather page.