VDOT Plows

VDOT divides Virginia into 9 maintenance districts, when a snow event requires streets to be plowed the affected areas are color coded. A mobilization scale of 1 to 5 is used to measure the severity level. In general, an event with a mobilization of three or greater will trigger plowing activities and the district will be shaded in blue. For mobilizations less than 3, the district will be shaded gray and limited plowing may be conducted on major highways. When there is no event level, the district will have no shading. The Mobilization Plan, Road Status and Help links on the page will provide detailed information on snow events and removal operations.

Local Operations

As the map is zoomed into a particular location, street level plowing activity may be displayed. VDOT is testing two different technologies to determine the best solution for showing the progress of snow plowing in the Commonwealth and the method to display the plowing progress in the districts will vary. The following sections will explain how snow plowing activity will be displayed during a mobilization level of 3 or greater.

Northern Virginia & Fredericksburg

In Northern Virginia (Nova) and Fredericksburg, the districts are divided up by service areas know as Local Area Headquarters and then further sub-divided into neighborhoods. These subdivisions are visible as you zoom into the district. When plowing is underway, the location of plow trucks is updated every two minutes and the neighborhoods are color coded depending on their stage of completion.

Remaining Districts

The balance of the state at this time will not be displaying plowing activities for neighborhoods. However, once plowing is underway, the location of snow plow trucks is updated every two minutes.