Snow Updates - for those of you at work :)

That's b/c back then you walked 5 miles up-hill bear foot to school - my parents just shipped me off to boarding school.

 

I'm lolling at the thought of T8erman with bear feet.

 

I expected Claiborne was VDOT maintained, but wasn't sure about Village Dr. I do know none of the roads in my townhouse area (Hawksbury, Royal Fern, Sweet Bay) had seen a plow.

 

Actually, I have more like soft DOVE feet, not hairy, gnarly BEAR feet.

In truth, for all the sports I did (year round), I pretty much always ahad some sorta shoe on 'cept at the pool

 

Like an ice rink!

The design of our home (Spruce) has a downspout coming off the house smack dab in the middle of the drive way!

 

Shall we even start talking about all those who haven't cleared their sidewalks? Glad I don't have any kids who had to walk to school today. Also glad I live on the side of the road withOUT sidewalks! I feel for those folks like Kaos and Brassey who live on corners and have boatloads of sidewalk to clear. EEK.

 

sharse - what about me???...we cleared our corner lot and than being a good neighbor I did their driveway before they came home too. Plus I baked cookies...

And yes my freakin back kills today.

 

Oh yeah... when I drove by your house I thought, "Did they have to clear ALL of that? Was any portion of it done by the HOA?" Yep... you gotta lotta sidewalk, sister.

 

Steve-
You can't equate the number of roads with the lane miles that must be plowed.
Compare Waxpool or Claiborne with an HOA owned street. One mile of an HOA street is not the same as one mile of a 4-lane divided road with several left/right turn lanes. Even for residential streets, the VDOT streets are wider than the HOA maintained ones. Lastly, the VDOT streets are much longer in length on average than HOA owned ones.

 

Why?!

It is not like you have to bend over since you are near ground level already!

 

Oh, that's low....

 

at least I am not a bottom feeder!

 

and we have bottomed out..

 

I'm disappointed, I was expecting some Steve Snow news in this thread.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by BellaRu
Private contractors are NOT allowed to drop plows on VDOT maintained roads, nor do private contracts want to drop plows on VDOT maintained roads. Why? Because...

#1 and most important - liability. VDOT is responsible for all sewer/curb/gutter/concrete/asphalt on their maintained roads. A private contractor could get royally screwed by VDOT if they mess anything up.

This I can understand..


Quote:
Originally Posted by BellaRu
This also includes damage to private property, as well as personal injury. The insurance is ridiculous, and frankly, I'd rather it be VDOT's bill. As Cliff stated in his post, the expense to the HOA would be unreal.

The contractors have their own insurance... and even if there was insurance implications for the HOA - this is a game we are already IN because we contract plowing companies already.

Yes, contractors do carry liability insurance on every job they do. And the standard is 1 mil. It covers anything from personal injury, to property damage. In order to carry enough insurance for miles and miles of roadway that are state maintained, the insurance would need to quadruple, just to cover the contractor. What you have to understand is- even if VDOT agreed to allow a private contractor to plow their maintained roads, that contractor would have to carry a bond, which can total in the millions. VDOT would require this to protect their roadways. In order to provide this bond, the contractor would have to carry more insurance, at a higher coverage, for more money.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BellaRu
#3 - Insurance the HOA must carry, that cost on top of paying a private contractor to plow miles of roadway.

Again - this is a game we are already in. Why is this any different?

Because instead of plowing town home streets, which can be effectively budgeted for, adding on 10's of miles of roadway can raise the snow management cost into the 100's of thousands. It just isnt cost effective for a home owners association to take on that kind of maintenance, nor is it lucrative for a contractor to take on that kind of job. It would be a losing situation, all the way around.

 

More assumptions based on what values? If you have a total lane miles of VDOT road in Broadlands vs HOA-owned - please share.

Frankly, I dont have the total number of linear miles of VDOT maintained roadway, vs. home owner maintained streets. Im sure that information can be gathered. But I am going to assume, (I know, silly me) that VDOT maintained miles is a whole lot more than HOA.

All reputable contractors should be licensed and bonded, however my mention of a bond is completely different. IF and that is one big fat IF, VDOT allowed a private contractor to take over plowing on their roadways, they would require the contractor to take out a separate bond with the state, and it could equal millions, to protect themselves (the state), and any repairs that are needed. If any repairs are required, the contractor would be required to repair them, to the state's satisfaction, before releasing the contractor's bond. In other words, they hold a big huge chunk of contractor money and keep hold of it until they are satisfied their roadways/curb/gutter/asphalt/lighting etc. are in working order. VDOT can drag their feet on this for as long as they want to. If I were a snow contractor, I wouldnt touch that work with a 100' pole.

That being said - that is a very high cost to do business. Where you might pay $85-90 per hour now in snow plow rates, it could be a lot higher, if a private contractor has to jump through that many VDOT hoops.

Im not for or against - Im just providing information that has to be taken into account.