Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

VDOT crews continued to clear U.S. 220 South about a mile or two south of Clearbrook in Southwest Roanoke County on Saturday afternoon.

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A North Carolina woman who spent Friday night stuck in stalled traffic on Interstate 81 at Ironto said fellow motorists were irked by what they saw as questionable relief efforts during the weekend snowstorm.

At the height of the emergency, with vehicles backed up for miles, the temperature and snow falling and no way out, "a lot of people were angry, saying, 'This is being handled really poorly,' " Sharon McGowan said.

Dail Stancill, project manager for the company hired to maintain the largest roads in this part of Southwest Virginia, said the company had 50 plows going full-bore on I-81 and I-581 and parts of U.S. 460 in Botetourt, Montgomery, Pulaski and Roanoke counties during the snowstorm.

But numerous slipping and stuck tractor-trailers and vehicles clogged I-81, he said.

The snowstorm "was just really, just about a catastrophic event," said Stancill, a former VDOT assistant resident engineer who is now with Infrastructure Corp. of America of Brentwood, Tenn.

"No matter how many trucks we would have had, it's difficult for them to maneuver, get through and get in front and plow the bulk of the snow off."

VDOT spokesman Jason Bond said VDOT will review how well Infrastructure Corp. of America met its contract responsibilities.

Bond said that because state highway crews had to help on I-81, they took longer to plow primary roads and side streets in Roanoke and Montgomery counties. Refreezing of previously cleared roads and equipment breakdowns further delayed side-street plowing, Bond said.

To be sure, a good deal of progress was made during the 48 hours after the end of the snowfall Saturday. Major roads, which were impassable in many cases Saturday, were mostly clear except for icy patches by Monday morning.

McGowan's ordeal began early Friday afternoon when she, her husband, Mike, and their two children left their home in Matthews, N.C., to drive to Roanoke to visit family.

By the time they turned off I-77 and onto northbound I-81, vehicles were scattered on and beside the road in large numbers as the snow piled up, McGowan said.

"It was so icy, my windshield wipers couldn't keep up," she said Monday.

State police, who were busy helping out, reported a three-fold increase in reported wrecks statewide, compared with crash volumes during a non-snow event. The number of disabled vehicles rose nearly four-fold for the weekend period, Sgt. Michael Conroy said.

The McGowan family, riding in a Chevrolet van, descended Christiansburg mountain at 10 mph or slower and exited at Ironto for fuel and a change of drivers. The family then continued northward until traffic stopped just beyond the entrance to the Ironto rest area at milepost 129, McGowan said.

From there, "we never moved, for 12 hours," she said.

Looking across the median at the southbound lanes of I-81, Sharon McGowan saw that traffic there was also stopped.

"They were there all night, too," she said.

Conversation with adjacent motorists led her to conclude the family was stuck only a short distance -- perhaps 20 vehicles -- behind a blockage that consisted of a tangle of jackknifed big rigs.

Among those stranded, a genuine spirit of camaraderie developed, she said. She met a man who claimed to be a co-creator of the first Bose music speaker and a young woman who attends the University of Virginia.

Fortunately, the McGowans had enough fuel to run the van's engine. They had cellphone contact with family members who were watching events on traffic cameras that feed to the Internet. Everyone slept some, warmed by parkas and blankets. They happened to have a sausage roll they had packed to enjoy in Roanoke.

"That was breakfast," McGowan said.

About 9:30 a.m. Saturday, some 12 hours after they stopped, a northbound plow cleared a path out on the shoulder. The McGowans were finally on their way.

"Why didn't they do that at 12 o'clock at night instead of 9 in the morning?" McGowan asked.

According to Bond, ICA is solely responsible for the interstate maintenance.

But, in light of the circumstances, VDOT crews worked alongside ICA on Friday night and early Saturday to help ICA reach stuck vehicles so it could free them, Bond said.

In some cases, motorists waited more than 12 hours, he confirmed.

"We had hundreds of people stranded on the interstate," Bond said. "That became an emergency issue. We sent VDOT forces back onto the interstate to help get to those people who were spending hours trapped in their cars."

Stancill said ICA had begun its own review to learn what, if anything, might be improved for the future.

"Snow and ice removal is part of our contract responsibility," he said. "However, there's a certain level or act of God that takes place that caused our contract to be viewed differently. ... We don't own the road."

"The commonwealth is still the owner of the road, so the interstate is their No. 1 priority to provide safe travel."

ICA's snow handling has been under review in the past.

In December 2007, VDOT's Salem district leadership docked ICA's paycheck by $32,900 after authorities deemed that ICA's response to a minor snowstorm had been unsatisfactory.