Ride along with Prince George's Co. plow truck during dry run training exercise as county prepares for winter.
— Kathy Stewart (@KStewart海角精品黑料)
Snow plows rolling in PG Co. No snow - that doesn't matter. It's a dry run, preparing for winter's onslaught.
— Kathy Stewart (@KStewart海角精品黑料)
Command center for PG Co where coordination and communications happen during winter weather emergencies.
— Kathy Stewart (@KStewart海角精品黑料)
FORESTVILLE, Md. — If you see snowplows rolling down the streets in Prince George鈥檚 County on Friday, you might start scratching your head: It鈥檚 fall, and there鈥檚 no snow on the ground.
But the snowplows were out in force Friday, hitting the county鈥檚 streets beginning about 4 a.m.
鈥淭his is our preparation for the upcoming snow and ice season,” says聽Paulette Jones, spokeswoman for the county鈥檚 Department of Public Works and Transportation.
It鈥檚 the county鈥檚 annual dry run to get prepared for winter鈥檚 onslaught and test out the county鈥檚 weather emergency procedures before the bad winter hits.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be inspecting our roads, inspecting our vehicles and just really just preparing for the upcoming snow and ice season,” she says.
DPW & T Director Darrell Mobley says in a statement that this is all about ensuring this winter season that roadways are clear and safe for motorists:
鈥淟ast year, DPW & T staff worked 18 snow and ice events. This winter weather season, we will continue to work to ensure that our roadways are cleared and safe for the motorists in Prince George鈥檚 County, and we will also take a proactive approach to enhance communications with the residents.鈥�
Jones says the dry run gives the plow drivers a chance to get familiar with their assigned routes.
鈥淲e have 1,900 miles of country roadway that we鈥檒l be covering today. We have five districts.鈥�
Jones says they didn鈥檛 send out their entire fleet 鈥� about 130 of the 250 county鈥檚 plows hit the streets on Friday.
This was a chance to test the county鈥檚 Automated Vehicle Locator system, which tracks where snow vehicles are and where they鈥檝e been, monitored from the command center.
The state-of-the art command center, also called the TRIP Center (for Traffic Response and Information Partnership), in Forestville, is the hub for the department鈥檚 snow emergency response communication and coordination.
Snowplow driver Ronald Terrell, who took part in Friday’s exercise, has been driving a snowplow for the county for nine and a half聽years. He says the greatest challenge plow drivers face is parking.聽County residents, he adds, can help out by parking only on the even-numbered sides of residential streets when there鈥檚 snow.
Also, if you鈥檙e driving behind a plow truck, keep your distance, Terrell says聽— they’re聽plowing and laying down salt at the same time.聽 鈥淕ive the salt time to hit the roadway and give the cars and vehicles some traction,鈥� he says.
More than 400 DPW & T workers, engineers, administrative staff and bus drivers took part in the annual dry run, as well as crews from other partner agencies.
A similar dry run involving about 700 drivers was also set for聽the District Friday morning.
