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State spent $37,760 to provide emergency towing on I-95 in the Fredericksburg area during the inauguration; no vehicles were towed Date published: 4/17/2009
BY KELLY HANNON Two towing companies in Fredericksburg were paid $18,880 each by the state to position tow trucks at six Interstate 95 exits over three days for the inauguration of President Obama. The service turned out to be unnecessary. The traffic gridlock that was anticipated never materialized, and the towing companies did not remove a single car or bus. The $37,760 price tag looms as the state searches for a way to trim $600 million from the Virginia Department of Transportation's budget by cutting positions, closing rest areas and limiting mowing. It's not known whether the state could have gotten a better price. The decision to hire towing services was made only a week before the inauguration, so standard procurement procedures were bypassed. Gov. Tim Kaine had by then declared a state of emergency, allowing the state to hire from a pool of eight towing companies in the Fredericksburg area that regularly worked for VDOT, instead of opening up the work to all bidders. Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey defended the hires as necessary to make the roads accessible for people traveling to the inauguration. "It was a public-safety issue. The goal is to keep the roads open and clear," Hickey said. The state has applied for federal reimbursement for all inauguration-related expenses, Hickey said, and is waiting for a response. state worried about traffinc standing still worry over traffic standstill brouAt the time the hiring decision was made, state officials were worried that traffic on I-95 would be at a standstill before and after the inauguration, possibly as far south as Fredericksburg. Before the event, estimates for attendance ranged from 2 million to 4 million people. VDOT owns towing equipment in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to remove disabled cars and charter buses, so there was no need to hire private towing services in those districts, said Robert Prezioso, VDOT's acting state maintenance engineer. In Hampton Roads, "If a vehicle breaks down in the tunnel, we drive our tow truck down there and get it out of the tunnel to keep traffic moving," Prezioso said. VDOT then asks the vehicle owner to call a private tow truck to transport the car to wherever the owner can get it serviced. But VDOT does not own tow trucks in the Fredericksburg area.
You need to try calling a tow truck to tow a vehicle off the Interstate. The rates were fine. The fact that it turned out to be for nothing is great. If the crowds had come that were anticipated and we had major breakdowns slowing traffic on I-95 to a crawl you would have been the one writing in to complain about VDOT not being prepared.
Get over it, it was 3 months ago and you tow companies are still crying like babies. By the way where did the Shanks comment go earlier did the truth hurt? If VDOT had done nothing and traffic had backed up you would be raising H*** about that. Some people are never happy so be it.
The US Treasury will just print another $40,000. That's just
chump change. (Doncha know? We R REE-ACH BEE-ACH!)
My thoughts are that if it WAS gridlocked, what would it matter if someone stopped at the off ramp? :)
$85/$125 per hour to sit there? You gotta be kidding....that's 700 or 1000 for an 8 hr shift, more than most people make in a week or even two in this area. Our state govt not only screwed us but forgot the vaseline.
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