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White-out on I-75 blankets portions of interstate between Lexington, Richmond

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Posted at 3:13 PM, Feb 18, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-18 19:28:12-05

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Sometimes snow falls so fast that it begins to accumulate within minutes after being plowed away. Anyone driving along I-75 between Lexington and Richmond Wednesday night learned that first-hand.

“The crews plow, then re-plow, but of course once a plow has gone through, if you have continuous snowfall it’s immediately covered again,” said Natasha Lacy from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s seventh district, which covers Fayette and Madison Counties, among others.

Snow completely covered that stretch of the interstate making it appear as if it had never been touched, but Lacy says that wasn’t the case.

“Crews were on duty plowing, and clearing,” Lacy said.

Lacy said more salt has been ordered. Since it's only mid-February, more winter weather could be on the way this season despite a break from ice and snow next week.

Now the next order of business for the cabinet is to make sure all this snow has a place to go once it melts.

“Now we’re going to be focusing on the drains, and those are along the barrier walls, quite often,” Lacy said. “Those have to be cleaned because if the water freezes it can come out into lanes of traffic and cause ponding.”

There’s also concern for what might happen to all of that snow sitting on hills alongside roadways.

“With thawing, heavy amounts of water can cause slides to occur as well,” Lacy said.