When will your street be plowed? Here's how Lexington's snow removal plan works
Fayette County remains under a cold weather advisory, with an extreme cold warning in place late Monday, as Winter Storm Fern moves out of the area, leaving behind a blanket of ice and snow.
While many businesses will remain closed and Fayette County Public Schools students will learn form home, some residents may need to hit area roads. The city of Lexington plows more than 1,200 miles of streets based on a ranking system tweaked over many years.
In addition to city snow crews, Lexington hires private contractors to help with major roads, including Man O’ War and Alumni.
Rob Allen, director of the city’s streets and roads department, said Friday during a news conference the city has plenty of salt and staff to plow city streets and began pretreating roads Thursday ahead of the storm.
He also encouraged people to stay off the road. Motorists can hamper the city’s ability to clear streets, and large amounts of snow and below-freezing temperatures will mean the city will have to remove snow, not just wait for it to melt, Allen said.
“Stay home,” Allen said. “Don’t get out.”
Between midnight and 5 a.m. Sunday morning, the Lexington Police Department responded to four traffic hazards and 12 calls for motorist assistance, the city reported. Those numbers grew throughout the afternoon, and by 3:30 p.m., police had responded to six non-injury collisions, one injury collision, 24 traffic hazards and 139 calls for motorist assistance.
Which roads does Lexington, KY plow after snow?
Officials rank streets for plowing based on traffic and proximity to public services. The streets with the most traffic or those with key services — such as hospitals and schools — are plowed first. Those roads are rank 1 streets.
Some examples include:
- Richmond Road
- Nicholasville Road
- Main Street
- Versailles Road
- Man o’ War Boulevard
After those major roads are cleared, city crews than move to rank 2 streets. Those streets are generally major connector streets.
Examples of those are:
- Red Mile Road
- Loudon Avenue
After rank 2 streets are plowed, the city then starts plowing major connector roads into neighborhoods, called rank 3 streets.
Examples of rank 3 streets include:
- Zandale Drive
- Appian Way
- Buck Lane
Rank 4 streets are typically collector streets in neighborhoods. Rank 5 streets are also neighborhood streets with bus routes on them. The last streets to be plowed are local, neighborhood streets, those that have the least amount of traffic.
The city also has different service levels based on the amount of snow. If Lexington gets more than 4 inches, the city attempts to clear all ranked streets.
However, the city has to re-plow streets as snow falls. That means rank 1 streets, like Nicholasville and Richmond roads, are constantly re-plowed during snow events. It can take city crews several days after the snow stops falling to get to lower-ranked streets, Allen has said.
Changes to Lexington’s snow removal plan
After a major snow storm in January 2025 closed FCPS for seven days due to snowy and ice-clogged streets, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton pledged the city would improve its snow removal plan by buying more equipment and hiring more private contractors.
In the current budget, Gorton set aside $3.4 million for additional snow plows and other equipment.
Of that money, $1.4 million is for new snow plows and equipment, $1 million for salt and Beet Heat and more than $600,000 for private contractors to help the city clear more streets quickly.
This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 7:53 AM.
