Winter storm dumps 7 inches on Alexandria; city facilities closed through Tuesday
Trash collection slides two days; limited transit service resuming Tuesday
Updated Monday, Jan. 26, 7 p.m. Originally published 4:45 p.m.
City crews continued around-the-clock snow-clearing operations on Monday after a major winter storm dumped 7 inches of snow on Alexandria over the weekend.
All city facilities will be closed on Tuesday again. Trash and recycling will not be collected on Monday or Tuesday and will slide two days for the rest of the week.
Alexandria City Public Schools will also be closed on Tuesday, the first missed school day for students, who were already scheduled to be off Monday for a teacher work day that was also canceled. The district plans to resume classes on Wednesday.
City museums and recreation centers, including Chinquapin and Minnie Howard, are also closed Tuesday. City Council will hold its legislative meeting virtually at 7 p.m.
The National Weather Service has issued a cold weather advisory from 7 p.m. Monday to 11 a.m. Tuesday, with wind chills as low as 5 to 8 degrees below zero. Dangerous cold will persist through the week, with highs in the low 20s and overnight lows in the single digits through Friday.
The weather service is also monitoring the possibility of snow Saturday night into Sunday.
A local emergency declared Saturday remains in effect. The city escaped significant power outages, with Dominion Energy reporting no outages in Alexandria as of early Monday.
Here’s what you need to know:
Transit Tuesday:
DASH: Reduced weekend service, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., with buses running every 30 minutes. King Street Trolley will operate 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Metrorail: Weekend schedule starting at 6 a.m., with trains every 15 to 30 minutes.
Metrobus: Limited service starting at 6 a.m. Check wmata.com/snow before traveling.
MetroAccess: Life-sustaining trips throughout the day; non-medical trips after 8 a.m. if conditions allow.
MARC: Sunday service on Penn Line only; Camden and Brunswick lines suspended.
VRE: No determination yet for Tuesday service.
OmniRide: Local service starting at 9 a.m. with limited availability.
Roads: All primary streets are passable as of Monday afternoon. Crews are continuing 24/7 clearing operations. Snow emergency routes remain closed to parking. Residents can check the status of specific streets at alexandriava.gov/SnowReport.
Warming shelter: The winter shelter at 2355-A Mill Road is open around the clock until 7 a.m. Wednesday.
What residents should do: Property owners must clear sidewalks within 24 hours of snowfall ending, per city code. Failure to clear sidewalks can result in a $50 fine or the city clearing it and billing the property owner. Residents are also asked to clear at least 3 feet around fire hydrants and storm drains. Do not shovel snow into streets or onto sidewalks. The Snow Buddy program, run by Volunteer Alexandria, can help seniors and disabled residents who are unable to clear their own sidewalks.
Who to contact:
Downed trees and limbs on city streets, sidewalks and property or other non-emergency concerns: 703.746.4444
Trees on power lines and power outages: Dominion Energy at 866.366.4357 or dominionenergy.com
Water main breaks or water service questions: Virginia American Water at 800.452.6863
Sidewalk not cleared (after 24-hour deadline): 311 or 703.746.4311
Emergencies: 911
Really appreciate the level of detail here on how the city is coordinating the DASH and Metro schedules. The cascading approach to bringing routes back online as conditions improve is actually pretty smart from a resource standpoint. Had a situaton last year where we got blindsided by transit changes during a storm and nobody knew what was up.