Kentucky officials make plans to keep roads clear during winter weather

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) - As we head towards the winter months, Kentucky state officials have already laid out plans to do their best to keep the roads clear.

“We are ready. We have been through a lot of training in the last month. We have our salt stockpiled and all of the materials on hand for whenever the winter weather hits,” said Allen Blair, deputy director of public affairs for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

A Budget Review Subcommittee on Transportation Meeting was held in Frankfort on Wednesday to discuss last year’s winter weather expenditures and what is expected for the upcoming season.

“That’s dollars that we don’t see again, so it’s incumbent upon us to make sure that every single dollar is expended as efficiently as possible when it comes to snow and ice events,” said James Ballinger, state highway engineer.

For the 2023-2024 fiscal snow season, the state spent more than $47 million on state and contract equipment, materials and labor. However, officials are preparing for increased costs with a projected change in our global weather pattern from La Nina to El Nino.

“The last transition year we had, we spent about $65 million, and there was 288 thousand tons of salt. And if you adjust that for inflation to today’s prices, that would be about a 70 to 73 million dollar expenditure,” said Ballinger. “Any time that there is some increases in the salt prices, we plan ahead for that so that we are able to maintain that stockpile and ensure that we have enough snow-fighting chemicals and everything on hand for when the winter weather hits.”

This year’s stockpile currently has 369,000 tons, as well as plows and other equipment to keep our roads clear during the winter. The transportation cabinet is confident that with 2,300 workers, Kentucky will be able to weather the strong winter storms

“It is a lot of work,” Ballinger said, “It’s always a little bit stressful during that time, but it’s when our teams do their best work.”

For context, state and road crews will have to keep clear over 27,000 centerline miles as well as 64,000 lane-miles and 9,000 bridges during active winter storms.