A day after a foot or more of wet, heavy snow fell on Anchorage, some of the city's major roads were still pocked with washboard bumps and rock-hard ruts.

The problem appeared to be worse on roads the state maintains -- most of the bigger roads in Anchorage, such as Dimond and Northern Lights boulevards, C and A Street and Minnesota Drive. The state also plows the Seward and Glenn highways.

A state highway official says the bone-shaking bumps built up on main city roads Monday morning while state Department of Transportation crews were concentrating on the highways -- their first priority in a storm. The Seward and Glenn were slick, but not as bumpy as other roads.

Meantime, on the main city roads, "Vehicle traffic packed it down before we could get to it with plows," said Tom Grman, DOT highway maintenance superintendent for the Anchorage district.

Municipal street maintenance superintendent Daniel Southard has a different take: The state doesn't have adequate staff and resources.

"It's a simple fact," he said.

But Rick Feller, Anchorage region DOT spokesman, said this week's snowstorm was extra demanding.

"Any time there's a major snow event, anyone's resources are going to be strained," Feller said.

On city-maintained roads, plows went over and over the same roads to get the snow off, Southard said.

The city plows a few major roads, including Lake Otis Parkway, 36th Avenue and Bragaw Street, and also cleans all the neighborhood streets. Each agency clears bus stops and sidewalks, too.

"We struggled really hard so we were able to get this stuff off the roads down to the pavement," Southard said.

'worst i've seen'

At midday Tuesday, Southard said, he had just driven down Dimond, "and it's the worst I've seen. That's just unacceptable."

Feller said the state and city operations aren't exactly comparable. "We do mostly high-speed plowing," he said.

Sunday the DOT concentrated on Hillside roads where the snowfall started early, said Grman. Before morning rush hour Monday, crews switched to the Glenn to clear it and get snow removal equipment off the highway before traffic intensified, he said.

Meantime, ruts and bumps were already building up in town.

To get rid of the bumps, on Tuesday DOT added a bit more salt in the sand it spread on roads to cut through the ice. And it switched to serrated ice blades, said Grman.

By Tuesday afternoon, roads such as Dimond and Tudor Road are already improving, he said.

But the roads were still rough, and there were still plenty of motorist complaints. The Daily News asked readers on Twitter and Facebook how roads were Tuesday afternoon.

"Car vibrates out of control" on the Huffman Road traffic circles, wrote one person. "State should do better here."

"A and C are like a moonscape," wrote another driver. "I don't understand how they could be so awful."