LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The city of Lexington is acknowledging criticism over its road maintenance following last week's winter storm, with officials admitting Tuesday morning that their current approach needs adjustment.
"Could we have done better? Probably. And that's what we're going to look at," said Nancy Albright, commissioner for Environmental Quality and Public Works.
Albright admitted the city's plan for road treatment isn't sufficient anymore, particularly as this year's mix of ice and snow proved challenging to manage — similar to conditions experienced last year.
"One of the comments we've seen a lot is typical response. What may have been typical ten years ago is maybe no longer typical. So we have to adjust our response for what may be considered a new normal," Albright said.
The city has deployed significant resources in response to the storm. So far, crews have put down more than 19,000 gallons of beet heat, distributed by 70 city vehicles and 150 city employees. The effort required 2,000 hours of overtime over the past 10 to 12 days.
While the city budgeted $3.5 million for snow and ice response — including salt purchases and contract help — officials are now hiring two additional contractors to focus on large employment centers this week. The contractors will use construction equipment including skid steers, graders, loaders and dump trucks.
"This is going to be estimated to cost the city an extra $95,000 just for this additional effort this week. It'll be effective, it just won't be cheap," Albright said.
The city has already used 4,600 tons of salt to address the winter storm and still has 4,500 to 5,000 tons available for future use.
"We even have enough for the next storm if it's as bad as this storm," Albright said. "One of our first priorities is getting salt. We have to make sure we are ready for the rest of this winter as we prepare for how to improve moving forward."
Looking ahead, the city plans to study how other similar-sized cities in comparable geographical locations — such as Richmond, Virginia, and St. Louis, Missouri — handle severe weather events involving ice, snow and sleet.
