Storm Updates: Local Emergency Ends, Snow Removal Enforcement Begins

Enforcement of the Arlington County Snow Removal Ordinance will begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 3. At the same time, the Local Emergency for Arlington County declared in response to last week’s snow and ice storm will end. 

The Snow Removal Ordinance requires all property owners—both commercial and residential—to clear snow and ice from public sidewalks adjacent to their property in a designated timeframe. The County Manager suspended enforcement of the ordinance after last week’s storm due to the combination of ice and extremely low temperatures. 

While enforcement was suspended, the County continued to encourage the community to clear sidewalks at their properties to help ensure safe access to jobs, schools and services, regularly reaching out to community partners and businesses and assessing sidewalk conditions. 

“This snow has made the clearing of sidewalks difficult and slow, but County crews have been chipping away—literally—to ensure County facilities and parks are accessible,” Schwartz said. “Because of the nature of this snow, I didn’t want the County penalizing residents and businesses unfairly, but the responsibility of property owners to do what they could to ensure the safety of our walkways never went away.” 

The County’s code enforcement inspectors will begin its rounds across Arlington on Tuesday, looking at both residential and commercial properties. The intent of the ordinance is to identify locations and situations that pose a public safety hazard and to encourage voluntary compliance with snow and ice removal requirements. Problem areas and blocked sidewalks should be reported via the County’s Snow Issue Form. 

Snow Ordinance FAQs

Of the nearly 700 miles of sidewalks in the County, Arlington County Government is responsible for approximately 35 miles of sidewalks adjacent to County facilities, including parks, schools, libraries, community centers, transit stops, and other public buildings, as well as 12 miles of trails. Staff from the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and the Department of Environmental Services (DES) have been working, along with Arlington Public Schools, to ensure these walkways are accessible.   

Parking enforcement will also resume this week on a limited basis. Enforcement will focus on cars parked in travel lanes or in ways that obstruct streets, as well as parking lots that have been cleared and are being actively used by the public.  

Snow Response by the Numbers 

• County crews worked 14 consecutive 12-hour shifts starting Saturday, Jan. 24.  
• More than 1,000 lane miles, 350 bus shelters,10.5+ miles of protected bike lanes, and 21 bridges and overpasses were cleared by crews. 
• Each shift by the DES Water Sewer Streets bureau had approximately 80 pieces of equipment working, including County trucks, contractors, and heavy equipment.
• DPR crews cleared 63,815 feet of sidewalk and worked at locations 119 times over the past week. 
• Crews hauled more than 5,000 truckloads of snow out of the County’s commercial corridors to five locations around the County. That equals roughly 55,000–75,000 tons — well over 100 million pounds of snow moved.
• Water crews responded to 25 water main breaks in freezing cold temperatures to ensure water service was quickly restored to customers.