Apology after federal workers' nightmare commute

Spinning tires, skidding cars and nightmare commutes lasting more than eight hours have garnered the Washington area's 300,000 federal workforce an apology of sorts from their personnel chief after he released the workers two hours early on Wednesday afternoon - into the teeth of a fierce snowstorm.

Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry apologized Thursday at a hastily assembled news conference. Yet he said he still believes that letting workers go two hours early was the right decision and says everyone was caught off guard by the intensity of the storm.

"That was the fastest accumulating storm I've seen in my lifetime," Berry said.

Berry decided before midday Wednesday that he would let federal workers leave the job early on Wednesday to cope with the onrushing storm - only to leave motorists struggling with gridlock inside the Beltway and out.

He said those who waited to leave offices once snow began falling were doomed because the snow fell so fast that the road conditions deteriorated right away. Efforts to pretreat roads failed because light rain earlier that day washed away many of the chemicals.

Many workers who set out at as early as 4 p.m. Wednesday only got home after midnight.

In a city known for its frequent traffic jams, Wednesday's afternoon rush was a nightmare commute: Drivers frequently spun out, cars got stuck on slippery roads as snow piled up quickly. Hundreds of motorists abandoned their vehicles entirely, sometimes in the middle of the road.

Berry said Thursday that while he's sorry so many faced such a miserable commute, he couldn't have controlled the outcome even if he had wanted to.

"I don't control the weather. I don't control the roads. I control the work schedule," Berry said.

While some federal workers - as well as private sector workers who were also caught in the gridlock - complained, Berry did pick up support for his decision from William R. Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees. That group represents more than 100,000 of the federal workers.

Dougan called Berry's early release decision "entirely appropriate" and added: "We all know that hindsight is 20/20."

Federal workers were also allowed to report two hours late on Thursday.

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Associated Press Writer Jessica Gresko contributed to this report from Washington.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects word to 'struggling' in 4th paragraph.)