At its meeting on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, the Prince George’s County Council met with representatives from the Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPW&T), including Director Michael Johnson, to discuss the department’s recent snow removal efforts beginning on January 6, 2025. The National Weather Service reported Prince George’s County and the Washington, DC metro area received between six and 12 inches of snow, the most substantial single-event snowfall since January 2022. DPW&T Director Johnson briefed Council Members on the challenges his crews and contractors faced responding to the storm, saying “Our storm response fell short of the high standards we strive to maintain as a department.”
Council Members expressed gratitude to the workers who helped dig out the county, but also relayed their own concerns, and those of their constituents, regarding the county’s preparation, execution, and communication surrounding the storm.
“I know how hard everybody worked through this. Maybe we didn’t work the smartest, which I know that you’re working on, but everybody was definitely working hard,” Chair Jolene Ivey (At-Large) told Director Johnson.
After listening to a briefing by DPW&T, Council Members spent close to two hours questioning leaders about snow removal operations and plans for improvement, while addressing specific issues faced by constituents.
“The planning for this was pretty disappointing and the communication was really what made it worse,” said Council Member Wala Blegay (District 6).
Director Johnson outlined immediate actions that will be taken including: adjusting the deployment strategy for primary and residential roads; collaborating with the Office of Emergency Management, Office of Community Relations, community partners, and elected officials to broaden outreach efforts; and partnering with the Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement (DPIE) to expand snow operations. While the live snowplow tracking system did not work correctly during the storm, DPW&T reports the program has now been fixed.
Johnson said the county received nearly 5,700 complaints about snow removal through its 311 reporting system.
He explained to Council Members that primary and secondary roads are prioritized in snow cleanup over residential roads but acknowledged that the sheer amount of snow made it difficult to keep the main roads clear before moving onto the neighborhood streets.
“It took too long to get into the residential areas and during that period, people drove on the snow, and it became icy over a wide swath of streets,” Johnson said.
Frigid temperatures also complicated the snow and ice removal. Johnson told the Council that his department had 44,000 tons of road salt on hand prior to the storm, but sustained temperatures below 20 degrees made that salt less effective. That forced crews to switch to a magnesium chloride salt, which is harsher on roads and the environment and is only used under certain circumstances.
In an effort to clear all roads more quickly, Johnson suggested the county move away from a “phased” snow removal approach and into a “concurrent” approach, meaning residential roads are plowed at the same time as main roads. That would require additional plow trucks and staff but would significantly cut down the amount of time until roads are cleared. That suggestion was among the many Johnson laid out in his near and long-term snow removal goals for DPW&T, as he pledged quality control improvements, hiring some additional staff and conducting an in-depth consultant assessment of the agency’s snow program.
“The Department of Public Works and Transportation is committed to learning from this experience and implementing necessary improvements to avoid similar issues in the future,” Johnson said.
To view the briefing, click here. To view DPW&T’s presentation slides, click here.