Road Crews Prepare for Snow and Ice

While most people are taking time to enjoy the autumn colors and cooler fall weather, employees of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet are busy preparing for winter snow and ice.

During the month of October Kentucky highway crews check all of their snow and
ice response equipment to assure that everything is working properly and ready
for the real thing.

Crews are gearing up to go into snow response mode starting Nov. 1. That requires Kentucky highway personnel to complete snow and ice safety training during October.

That means safety checks on emergency lights, hydraulic systems, pumps, spreaders and other equipment required to spread salt and plow snow. Salt spreading equipment must also be calibrated to assure it distributes the optimum amount of salt per mile.

Drivers will also be making test runs to become familiar with their assigned routes.

Highway District 2 has 110 state-owned trucks that can be equipped with snow plows, along with about 20 contract trucks. The district has about 20,000 tons of salt in storage.

“Western Kentucky averages a little less than 11 inches of snowfall annually, with most of our winter precipitation coming in January and February,” said District 2 Chief District Engineer Kevin McClearn. “An average year brings about three events of about a three inch snowfall each. The last 3 years have been above that average. Our crews have to be geared up and ready to respond to snow and ice from November 1^st to April 1st.”

According to the National Weather Service in Paducah, the earliest measurable snowfall on record for western Kentucky was Oct. 29, 1993, and the latest fell on April 18, 1983. The median date of first measurable snow is Dec. 22, and the median date of last measurable snow is Feb. 28, creating an annual snow and ice response season that runs from Nov. 1 to April 1.

District 2 engineers assigned to snow response teams will start weekly on-call rotations Nov. 1. The teams watch 10-day weather patterns and alert highway crews whenever a measurable snowfall appears in the forecast. Crews ramp up preparations for pre-treating and eventually plowing and salting of roadways to appropriate levels to respond to an approaching snow and ice event.

District 2 highway maintenance crews are responsible for 3,300 miles of roadway in 11 western Kentucky counties. Running all of those routes one time during a snowstorm is the equivalent of a non-stop trip from Miami, Florida, to Seattle, Washington. All of those road miles may be run several times in the life-cycle of a single 1 to 3-inch snowfall.

District 2, headquartered in Madisonville, is responsible for highways in Christian, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Hancock, Daviess, McLean, Hopkins, Caldwell, Webster, Henderson, and Union counties.