WASHINGTON — Snow fighting crews in northern Virginia have new tools for handling winter weather.

“We’re one of the big players on the entire East Coast, so we’re always looking for ways to innovate,” says Branco Vlacich, northern Virginia maintenance engineer for Virginia Department of Transportation.

A half-dozen VDOT snow plows will be equipped with rear facing video cameras this season “to show what the road looks like after it’s been plowed,” says Vlacich.

The camera images will be available in real time on the Internet, “No one has ever done something of this sort,” he says.

The plan is to have two camera trucks in Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties as a means of quality control on secondary roads and neighborhood streets. The bulk of VDOT’s snow clearing work is done by 4,000 contractors.

Also new this year is a jet-powered snow melter that will liquify snow piles that might otherwise steal parking spaces in Park n’ Ride lots where excess snow is stored.

If enough snow falls this winter, the season could finally provide a test of VDOT’s website that depicts a map of snow plow progress by neighborhood.

“We came up with this idea after 2010 and we’ve been ready to go with it ever since,” says Joan Morris, VDOT spokeswoman.

The website shows when trucks arrive, are working and when they’re done.

Another VDOT innovation that has yet to face a serious test is the high-pressure flush truck system. Seven of those trucks are available to clear snow and ice by spraying brine and chemicals between ballards that separate regular travel lanes from I-495 Express Lanes.

During the 2011-2012 winter season, the area averaged a total of about three inches of snow. This season a more typical 14 to 15 inches is expected.

Follow @WTOP on Twitter.