KYTC crews spot treat bridges and overpasses
(KBSI) – Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 1 Highway Crews are responding to areas of freezing mist across the 12-county region in western Kentucky.
Friday’s forecast calls for freezing drizzle and snow to move across the area through the afternoon hours.
The KYTC District 1 Snow and Ice Team started receiving reports of a fine mist leaving a coating of ice on vehicles along a line from Mayfield to Benton to Grand Rivers to Eddyville starting around 11 a.m. on Thursday. The spotty areas were not readily apparent on radar.
As a precaution area highway crews are spot-treating bridges and overpasses by putting down extra salt.
Many area highways have salt residue leftover from the last round of snow-fighting that should reactivate as the winter mix moves through, according to Keith Todd with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear encouraged Kentuckians to prepare for upcoming inclement winter weather. Over the next few days, the commonwealth is expected to experience severe weather conditions that includes freezing rain and snow, extremely cold weather and ice.
State highway crews and contractors have made progress in treating and plowing roads across the commonwealth.
“I want to give a shout-out to our employees, to the team members of the Transportation Cabinet, especially to the Department of Highways,” said KYTC Secretary Jim Gray. “More than 2,000 employees are actually active in fighting this snow and ice event. We’ve got the best crews in the business serving on Team Kentucky.”
The KYTC District 1 Snow and Ice Team asks the public to closely observe localized weather conditions and monitor the National Weather Service forecast at weather.gov/pah. Go to kbsi23.com/weather to see the latest forecast.
Cold temperatures continue to hang around with a wind chill expected below zero the next couple of days. Anyone who ventures out should be fully prepared for the extreme cold.
KYTC District 1 has about 200 employees involved in snow response efforts operating 115 snow plows, five tow-plows, and 17 contract plows to cover 2,850 miles of highway in Kentucky’s 12 westernmost counties. The district includes almost 70 miles of Interstate 24 and 73 miles of I-69 and the Purchase Parkway.
More than 1,400 plow trucks are on deck with more than 2,000 staff and crew members trained and prepped to keep travelers moving statewide.
Visit snowky.ky.gov for snow and ice resources, like priority route maps, tips and highway district updates. Travel info is available at GoKY.KY.Gov. Additional winter weather tips are available at Ready.Gov.
