State highway crews ready for snow season!

Priority routes established

FLEMINGSBURG, Ky. – Winter’s officially here, at least for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Department of Highways District 9!

Highway crews logged their first miles Dec. 5-7 on snow-covered roadways, treating them with nearly 400 tons of salt to clear lanes.

Throughout the Transportation Cabinet’s “snow season,” typically November to March, district highway crews remain at the ready – prepared to keep about 2,000 miles of state roads in Bath, Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Fleming, Greenup, Lewis, Mason, Nicholas and Rowan counties passable during inclement weather.

To accomplish that mission, crews plow and treat roads using a priority system based on the amount and nature of traffic within each individual county. Priority A routes include major through routes and are those most heavily traveled. Priority B routes include other important, but lesser traveled, state routes. Other roads fall into Priority C.

While it’s the Transportation Cabinet’s goal to treat all routes within eight hours of a routine winter storm event, higher priority routes are treated within a one- to four-hour turnaround time.

In Fleming County, Priority A routes include US 68, KY 11, KY 32 east of Elizaville, KY 32X (Flemingsburg Bypass) and KY 165. Priority B routes are KY 32, KY 57, KY 170, KY 111, KY 559, and portions of KY 344 and KY 158. Other routes are Priority C.

“The Transportation Cabinet recognizes how important roadway conditions are to Kentucky motorists,” said Randy Stull, Project Delivery and Preservation Branch I manager. “During a winter storm, our highway crews often spend long hours away from home to keep roadways clear and safe for the traveling public. We appreciate their service.”

More detailed information about the Department of Highways’ snow and ice response plans, including maps of priority routes in each county, is available on District 9’s web site at www.transportation.ky.gov/d9/ by clicking the “District Snow Operations!” link.

Throughout “snow season,” Transportation Cabinet response teams serve weekly on-call rotations. The teams monitor weather reports when snow is in the forecast and determine when to activate the cabinet’s arsenal of snow and ice equipment across the state, including more than 1,000 snow plows.

In District 9, more than 100 crew members operating 75 snow plows – plus 10 contract plows and crews – are involved with snow removal operations. And, approximately 23,180 tons of salt are currently stockpiled to battle winter precipitation. Crews work around the clock until storms pass to keep roadways in the best possible condition.

Motorists are reminded to give a wide berth to plows, salt trucks and other snow-clearing heavy equipment. To be effective in dispersing de-icing material, trucks tend to travel at a slower speed. Also, snow plows may create a snow cloud which can cause a white out or zero visibility condition, so keep a safe distance away from the trucks.