Everything you need to know about clearing snow (or not) in D.C.

“We’re not a snow town.”

Like or dislike him, the late mayor-for-life Marion Barry definitely got it right when he uttered those words back in 1987. Back-to-back storms had just buried D.C., and Barry was enjoying sunnier climes in Southern California as his snowbound constituents were left to dig out with little help from their government. 

Now, Barry was trying to dodge some responsibility for why roads and sidewalks remained impassable for days, but he also somewhat had a point: D.C. isn’t a snow town. And it’s even less a snow-clearing town. Whenever enough of the white stuff falls, you can safely assume that sidewalks, alleys, and even some roadways are going to be unsafely covered in a layer of untouched ice. (And be warned: Between one and three inches of snow could fall on Sunday.)

Now, some of the lack of snow-clearing can be blamed on the D.C. government. But it’s also you, dear resident, who can fail in your collective responsibility of shoveling snow. (Here’s me giving you a judgy look.) To be fair, the rules can be confusing, for government and residents alike. So we’re going to attempt to clear them up, just as you should go ahead and clear that icy deathtrap of a sidewalk that you still have outside your house.

Who’s responsible for clearing snow in D.C.?

It’s a little bit of everyone. In terms of actual responsibilities, this is how it breaks down:

• Major roads and residential streets are cleared by the D.C. Department of Public Works. 
• Private roads, say on a university campus or in a residential development, are the responsibility of the land owner. 
• Sidewalks outside of D.C. facilities (like schools and government buildings) are the purview of the D.C. Department of General Services. Except for D.C.’s public libraries: those are handled by the library system itself. 
• Otherwise, sidewalks are the responsibility of residents and businesses of adjacent properties. That also extends to alleys: the city won’t clear them, that’s on you. 
• As for Metro stations and bus stops, that’s the province of WMATA.
• Anything owned by the federal government – like buildings, memorials, and parks – is up to them to clear, which usually falls to the National Park Service.

OK, that sounds simple enough.

Yes, in theory. But if you want to exponentially increase the chance that nothing will get done, confusingly make it the responsibility of multiple agencies or people. 

Take bike lanes. Normal on-street bike lanes should be cleared by the Department of Public Works. But protected lanes – those that are separated from car traffic with bollards or other impediments – are supposed to be managed by… the D.C. Department of Transportation. (Want to have more fun with this? What if DPW pushes snow from the roads into protected bike lanes? It has happened.)

Then there’s the pedestrian bridge crossing from the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station to the Edgewood neighborhood in Northeast. As ANC Commissioner Joe Bishop-Henchman detailed on social media recently, bureaucratic confusion between Metro and two D.C. agencies has meant that the bridge regularly goes uncleared after snow storms.

And then there’s all that federal land in D.C. As any D.C. resident probably knows, it’s not all treated equally. While snow may be cleared more quickly around the monuments and museums, there’s often far less that’s ever done on the many plots of federal land sprinkled across the rest of the city. That can include small triangle parks, traffic circles, and so on. Unless you’re planning on complaining to Congress about this or have a direct line to someone up on high in the federal government, you probably shouldn’t hold out for much to change.

Don’t even get us started on foreign embassies, which largely can’t be held accountable for any snow-clearing duties.

Sheesh, the government seems to be failing us all here when it comes to clearing snow.

Maybe, but homeowners and businesses also have their role to play. Remember: it’s up to them to clear snow and ice from adjacent sidewalks and alleys. 

And yes, that includes the entire sidewalk in front of that property, not just a narrow path from the street to your front door. And if you want to get technical about it, D.C.’s law actually calls for the path you clear on those adjacent sidewalks to be at least 36 inches wide. (By comparison, Boston calls for 42 inches “for people using wheelchairs and pushing strollers” – and that’s in the first three hours after a storm ends. Chicago demands a whole five feet of bare pavement. So very flinty.)

Oh, and yes: Your landlord can delegate the responsibility to you, but it has to be by written agreement.

When should snow be cleared in D.C.?

Regardless of whether it’s the government, a business, or you that’s shouldering the responsibility, snow and ice should be cleared from places like sidewalks within the first eight daylight hours after snow has stopped falling. 

What happens if I don’t shovel my sidewalk?

Beyond our everlasting and withering judgement, you could face fines of between $25 for homeowners and $150 for businesses. 

Now, fines aren’t common, but they are handed out. After storms dumped roughly six inches on D.C. in January 2024, the city issued fines to 118 scofflaw homeowners and 11 businesses. Let it be noted: Fines can’t be issued until a property owner has failed to clear snow and ice away 24 hours after a storm ends, even though the law requires that sidewalks be cleared within eight hours of the end of a storm. 

This enforcement regime is all somewhat new, dating back roughly a decade. Before that, D.C.’s law essentially required that the city clear unshoveled sidewalks in front of homes and businesses – and sue those owners to recover the cost of doing so. It basically never happened.

But what if I can’t shovel my sidewalk or alley?

Some people – the elderly, or residents with disabilities – won’t be able to clear snow and ice off their sidewalks in time, if at all. They can request an exemption from D.C.’s snow-shoveling law (and the attached fines we outlined above) here. Otherwise, residents over the age of 65 or with a disability can request assistance with snow-shoveling from Serve D.C.’s volunteer crews. Alternatively, if you’re an able-bodied resident, you can always ask your neighbors if they need help with shoveling. 

Now, there will always be times when you simply didn’t get to shoveling (tsk tsk), and all that nice fluffy snow is now a sheen of ice right in front of your house. In that case, you can still meet your legal obligations “with a coating of sand, sawdust, or other proper substance as necessary to render the sidewalk safe for pedestrian travel.” (Carpenters rejoice.) This also applies to the government. 

What if I simply don’t want to do it? (Long-winded diatribe about freedom, the Constitution, and tyrannical sidewalk-regulating bureaucrats.)

Well, no one is really forcing you to clear your sidewalk. As we mentioned above, the worst you’ll get from the city is a $25 fine (or $150 if you’re a business). 

But, well, being a good neighbor is priceless, even more so when you consider that clearing snow and ice off your sidewalk enables mobility for lots of other people. If that’s not motivation enough, allow us to point you in the direction of the D.C. icy sidewalk injury lawyer. (And that risk of litigation also applies to you, D.C.!)

Ultimately, D.C. isn’t good at snow, as Marion Barry noted. But we can all at least try to be passably good at removing it? “It’s a shock to live in Washington and see how people don’t shovel, don’t plow and don’t salt,” said Lynn Sweet, the D.C. bureau chief of the Chicago Sun Times, to a Washington Post reporter after a storm in 2000. “Where I come from that’s part of the social contract. It’s simple. It snows. You shovel. You go to work.”

OK, fine. But can I claim temporary ownership over an on-street parking spot that I’ve shoveled out if I have to go run an errand?

No. Just no.

What can I do if D.C. isn’t doing its part in clearing streets or the sidewalks it’s responsible for?

If you want to keep track of D.C. streets, the city has a handy Snowplow Tracker that should give you a sense of how things are looking in your neighborhood. Sadly, there’s no such tracker for sidewalks that the city is supposed to clear – and streets often seem to be prioritized, even to the degree that snow cleared from roadways just ends up piled on sidewalks. 

But if you’re not seeing anything on your street, a public sidewalk or building, there’s a few options. You can call 311 and complain, but for some reason the city’s 311 app only accepts snow-removal requests if you’re over 65 or have a disability. You can call your D.C. Councilmember, complain loudly on social media (311 is actually pretty responsive on X), or just do the shoveling yourself. Invoicing the city probably won’t get you anything more than smug satisfaction, though.

In a statement, the D.C. Department of General Services says it does its best to get to all the sidewalks they are responsible for clearing. “DGS prioritizes pre-treatment and snow-clearing activities across 850 District Government properties, including fire and police stations, schools, recreation centers (including adjacent park spaces), senior wellness centers, and shelters, ensuring that vital services for residents continue without disruption,” said the agency.