With Governor McDonnell declaring a state of emergency in anticipation of a major snow event this weekend, I wanted to provide you with an update on snow preparation efforts. 

Over the past several months, VDOT has updated each of its 650 snow maps for Northern Virginia, added 600 contractor trucks to its fleet, provided additional snowplow simulator training, and initiated an Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) pilot program.  The AVL program will allow VDOT to track which areas a truck has covered and how long it took the truck to cover an area, as well as locate a truck to aide in an emergency response.  When snow or ice is forecast, VDOT will deploy trucks loaded with salt and sand to staging areas where they are assigned routes.  Crews will pre-treat about 300 lane miles of trouble spots on Interstates 66, 95, 395, and 495 with liquid magnesium chloride.  Another 200 lane miles on major roads, such as the Fairfax County Parkway, Braddock Road, and routes 29, 50, and 123 are pre-treated with salt brine. 

You can prepare for the storm by having a home emergency kit that includes water, food, a battery-powered radio, blankets, flashlights and extra batteries.  More information about winter weather preparedness is available at www.vaemergency.com.  If you must travel, check road conditions before leaving home by calling 511 or visiting www.511virginia.org.  Finally, VDOT and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management have teamed up to provide a blog of the most recent weather and snow response updates, along with tips for how to prepare for emergency situations.  Click here for specific information on the 2010 Winter Storm.

If you have a safety concern regarding a specific roadway, please report it to VDOT at novainfo@vdot.virginia.gov or 1-800-367-7623 or my office at deldbulova@house.virginia.gov or (703) 310-6752.

Wishing you and your family a happy, peaceful, and joyous New Year!

See this week’s Connection newspaper for an article on efforts to better safeguard the community from the Pickett Road tank farm, including two bills that I am introducing for the 2011 General Assembly.

Legislators Tackle Tank Farm
Recent oil spills have raised alarms about storage facility.

“Elected officials are pursuing new regulations and tighter restrictions from the state and federal governments for a gasoline storage facility near the southeast border of the City of Fairfax and Fairfax County.

The facility, often called the tank farm, has long drawn the ire of local residents. An oil leak from the farm, where several companies store gasoline, contaminated a large swath of the Mantua community in Fairfax County during the early 1990s.

More recently, a tanker truck associated with the farm overturned corner of Pickett Road and Main Street/Route 236 and spilled approximately 4,000 gallons of oil into a local sewer drain at the end of August.   Most of the oil was cleaned up, though not before it made its way into a local creek that runs through Mantua.”  Click here for the complete story.

The Fairfax delegation to the Virginia General Assembly will be holding its annual public hearing on Saturday, January 8th starting at 9:00 a.m.  The hearing will take place in the Board Auditorium at the Fairfax County Government Center.  This is an opportunity for residents to provide input on the upcoming session, which convenes on January 12th.  Individuals wishing to speak should call in advance to the Office of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors at (703) 324-3151 by noon on January 7th.

This past Sunday I had the honor of helping to dedicate a marker to commemorate the community of Ilda that once thrived near the intersection of Little River Turnpike and Guinea Road.  Ilda came into existence after the Civil War when two freedmen, Horace Gibson and Moses Parker, purchased property from the Gooding family and established a blacksmith shop.  In time, the community grew large enough support a post office.  With rapid development in the 20th century, memories of Ilda began to fade until the Gibson-Parker cemetery was re-discovered during recent improvements to Guinea Road.  Last year, the remains of family members were re-interred to nearby Pleasant Valley cemetery.  On hand for the ceremony were members of the Gibson-Parker family.  Special thanks to the Fairfax County History Commission, the Fairfax County Police Honor Guard, and many others for making this such a special occasion.