The Bureau of Highways staff is dedicated to insuring the safety of the traveling public while providing timely service to our citizen and business communities during inclement weather by planning and executing our winter operations activities on more than 6,300 County-maintained roads and streets. Anne Arundel County does not have a program for plowing private roads or parking areas in private communities. Winter operations activities related to snow and ice control include plowing snow from the roadway and shoulders, and responsibly applying deicing chemicals to main and collector roads and isolated icy spots to facilitate snow plowing. Anne Arundel County uses covered storage facilities for its road salt and stores a total of approximately 11,650 tons of salt at the following locations: Dover Road (Glen Burnie), Mountain Road (Pasadena), Crownsville Road (Annapolis), Broadneck Road (St. Margarets), Duckins Street (Odenton), West Central Avenue (Davidsonville), and at a storage yard in Friendship, MD. At the present time, a small portion of Anne Arundel County’s fleet is equipped with liquid calcium chloride pre-wetting equipment. Pre-wetting dry salt during its application helps the salt to adhere to the roadway. In contrast, dry salt can “bounce” and blow off the roadway and be less effective. Deicing materials are an effective tool for maintaining safe winter road conditions. However, Anne Arundel County is aware that excessive use can have negative impacts on the environment. We strive to only apply as much salt as necessary to achieve safe driving conditions. So, what are some of the environmental concerns associated with road salts? Heavy use of road salts has been assessed to cause damage to vegetation, organisms in soil, birds and to other wildlife. Chloride ions from road salts find their way eventually into waterways, whether by direct runoff into surface water or by moving through the soil and groundwater. In surface water, road salts can harm freshwater plants, fish and other organisms that are not adapted to living in saline waters. Planning for snow removal operations begins in the summer. Private companies factor heavily in our snow removal plan as this helps control the costs of snow removal operations. Contracting needs are determined and the process to secure snow removal contractors begins in July. In the fall months, both County owned and contractor equipment is inspected and prepared for winter service. Information for our citizen and business communities regarding the County’s snow removal program is also developed and prepared for outreach efforts in the fall. During the spring months, a thorough review of the previous year’s snow removal activities is conducted. Necessary changes are documented for implementation in the upcoming snow season. >>View Ready for Snow Video In winter months, as soon as snow begins to accumulate, equipment is dispatched to service main and collector roadways. Our next priority will be making each community road passable. Passable means that although the road may be snow-packed, at least one travel lane will be accessible with a front-wheel drive car. All-weather tires are a must. If our snowplow driver determines that your street meets our definition of passable, no further service will be provided. Additional plowing could create snow banks (windrows) at driveway entrances which have previously been cleared of snow by residents. Removal of windrows is the responsibility of the homeowner. In some instances, the occurrence of windrows can be reduced by placing shoveled snow to the right side of your driveway (when facing the street) and leaving a cleared space at the left side for snow on the plow blade to rest prior to your driveway.  |  | Passable | Bare Pavement |
If you are unsure of your street type (main, community, etc.), please visit our Snow Information Page where you can enter your address to learn this information. You can also enter an online request for snow removal from this page if you think that the stated level of service has not been met. If your street is privately owned, snow removal is the responsibility of the street’s owner. Please help us to serve you better by parking your vehicles in your driveway if at all possible. If off-street parking is not available, parking your vehicles on one side of the road is recommended. If our snowplow driver cannot safely access your street due to on-street parking, service will be delayed until adequate access is available or until smaller equipment becomes available. 
| Courtesy of C. Hall, Maryland Gazette |
Snow removal on sidewalks is the responsibility of the homeowner. In many instances, these sidewalks are used by children as school walking routes. Your neighbors will thank you for keeping your sidewalks free of snow. For a complete list of snow removal tips, please visit our Snow Information Page. >>View Snow Info To Keep You On The Go Video During a typical storm (under 4 inches), snow removal operations on County-maintained roadways should be completed within 24-36 hours after the end of the storm. For more information regarding our service levels during inclement weather, please view our Travel Guide. In order to meet these published levels of service, County forces are supplemented with contractor forces. The County currently has a fleet of 156 pieces of snow removal equipment. This includes heavy construction equipment such as road graders, skidsteer loaders, and backhoes that would only be used for snow removal under the most severe winter conditions. Our fleet is supplemented with 146 pieces of contractor snow removal equipment. This contractor fleet is on retainer with Anne Arundel County and is available for any winter operation. However, during a declared blizzard emergency, Anne Arundel County forces, even supplemented by contractor forces, may not meet our Travel Guide’s published levels of service. In order to better serve the citizens of Anne Arundel County year-round and during snow removal operations, we have installed a Global Positioning System on all County trucks that carry plowing equipment. This system enables us to know at any given time where a specific piece of equipment is or where it has been. It also provides data on whether the truck was plowing and/or salting for a portion of our fleet. Approximately 35 % of our contractor fleet is also equipped with a basic Global Positioning System. During significant storm events (over 4 inches of accumulation), our Storm Center is activated. It is staffed around the clock to centralize requests for service and to coordinate County-wide snow removal operations. You can reach our Storm Center at 410-222-4040, or if you prefer, you can enter an Online Request for Service at our Snow Information Page. | 
