Lexington mayor: City must adapt snow plan to worsening winter weather
The city of Lexington needs to revisit how it handles snow and ice removal to account for more ice and prolonged periods of cold, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said Saturday.
Lexington will seek advice from cities with more experience dealing with cold and icy conditions as the city looks to begin “revising our approach,” she said in a news release Saturday night.
“People are frustrated and want to get back to normal, as do I … I hear you loud and clear,” Gorton said. “What used to be a very rare occurrence — a significant ice storm, followed by an extended period of extreme cold — has now occurred two years in a row.
“It’s clear that ice storms and extreme cold are part of our winters now. They are incredibly hard to handle, and the plan we have can’t adapt to more severe weather. We will be revising our approach. There are no easy answers, but we will start by reaching out to cities that have much more experience with ice and cold than we do.”
The city is using heavy equipment such as skid steers and front-end loaders to try to break up ice on city streets during the overnight hours this weekend.
Contractors and government road crews are trying to clear bus routes, turning lanes, major intersections and piles of ice, the city said.
The city has thrown about three times the normal amount of salt it uses on a typical winter storm at this round of bad weather.
Lexington usually uses 1,000 to 1,500 tons of salt for an average winter storm, but it has used 3,600 tons, along with 12,000 gallons of Beet Heet, for this one, Environmental Quality and Public Works Commissioner Nancy Albright said Friday.
Rounds of snow and ice followed by a period of bitter cold created problems for Lexington last winter, too. Schools were closed for nearly a week, and people complained that neighborhood streets weren’t being plowed.
Gorton said the city spent almost $2 million on new equipment and hiring more contract labor to address the concerns.
“We thought that would be enough,” she said Saturday. “Clearly, we need to do more.”
Gorton also asked for patience as work crews continue to try to deal with the problem, saying people have jeered at road crews online and attacked the city’s response.
“Requests for their assistance are enormous,” Gorton said, “One of our crews did respond to a request for help from Fayette County Schools, a community partner that is in need and is important to all of us. For their trouble they earned a cheap, political online attack.
“Now is the time to pull together as a community.”
