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Crews work overnight to make roads safer for commuters Tuesday morning

Posted at 8:30 PM, Jan 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-09 07:07:20-05

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - The rise in temperatures is helping crews clear streets throughout Hampton Roads. However, many secondary streets still haven't turned to slush, despite the warmer weather. Crews plan to attack the ice and snow on primary streets first and then make another pass at all primary and secondary routes since the weather is on their side.

"We're definitely going to take advantage of a night like like tonight. This is one of our favorite nights," said Benny Smith.

While most people are sleeping, Smith will be plowing the streets of Virginia Beach. He said it's been nonstop since Wednesday night and he can't recall working that many days in a row for a snow storm ever before.

"We're cleaning up intersections, turn lanes, everything is starting to break up slowly but surely. It's still going to be a tough grind," said Smith.

Drew Lankford with the Public Works Department in Virginia Beach said they've spent more than $250,000 in materials to combat the aftermath of the snowstorm alone.

Crews in Norfolk are echoing a similar sentiment to Smith.

"What we'll do tonight we’ll go through and do another pass through hopefully so the highways will be, our primary and secondary will be clear tomorrow as everyone gets back to normal," said Trisha Fayton with the city of Norfolk.

However, getting back to normal hasn't been easy.

"The first day I hit the road was today because I couldn’t get out of my side street," said Kindell Brown, who missed quite a few work days. "I did quite a bit of driving today. Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk and I was able to get around."

But some are still frustrated there's still snow on the ground.

"It's nice to get a snow day, I'm from the Midwest, but it's amazing the streets aren't clear yet," said Sarah Babkov.

Crews working through the night are hoping their hard work will show Tuesday morning.