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Richmond officials say plowing of residential streets will begin as early as Sunday evening. Until then, authorities are asking residents to limit driving "unless absolutely necessary" so crews can plow more efficiently.

"It would make our jobs a lot easier if they would stay off the street," said city spokesman Michael Wallace. He said crews have also struggled to work around stuck vehicles that motorists have abandoned along roadways.

Wallace said crews have been working on snow removal in 24-hour shifts.

As of noon Sunday, crews were still focusing on major arteries around the city. Wallace said they will spend the afternoon on smaller feeder routes before turning their attention to residential streets in the evening.

That puts the city ahead of typical response times, Mayor Dwight C. Jones said in a statement.

“It is general practice for snow plowing to begin on residential routes 48 hours after a snowfall ends. We will begin plowing and treating residential routes a full 24 hours ahead of this time frame,” Jones said. "I strongly encourage residents to stay off of city streets, both as a motorist and pedestrian.”