Bad as airports can be, I would rather be there than sitting on the plane half way between the terminal and the runway. Airplanes are not fun to sit in when they are flying, but sitting still for eight or ten hours (or more) would be hell, nothing less.

Re the police blocking on ramps to the frwy, there are usually more ramps than there are officers, so that is out from the start. If all of the officers are on traffic control, there are none to respond to the really big problems. Been there done that, on I-5 in central CA, huge dust storm, hundreds of cars involved in three separate collisions within about a mile stretch, dead and injured all over the place, EVERY office assigned to that office was called in, along with highway department workers, and it still took HOURS to get everything under control, and days to get the freeway re-opened. And that was after the dust had abated. In this case, the snow and ice are still there. You just can't win with Mother Nature some times...