Kentucky Transportation Cabinet road crews are treating and plowing roadways across the region Friday and Saturday, as the first big winter storm event of 2018 brings significant amounts of snow and ice. Matt Markgraf speaks with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Keith Todd, who urges drivers to slow down.
See more coverage of the recent winter storm.
Keith Todd says the region lucked out with less freezing rain and more sleet than predicted, meaning fewer trees and power lines coming down.
Road crews got out early and started salting. Plowing is underway. Expecting plummeting temperatures tonight, Todd says crews may not be able to do much during the night time. Crews will pull in and get some rest - with some people on standby for emergencies. Full crews will 'hit it hard' on Saturday.
The snow priority list has A, B and C routes. The A routes (heavily traveled), B (connector routes), C (rural, secondary roads). The A's and B's are primarily being worked on Friday. It will probably be Saturday before crews can reach the C's, he said.
There have been some incidents Friday, Todd said, some trees down just east of Fulton on U.S. 45 and a semi crash on I-24 westbound (detours at exit 11 or 16). Todd says message boards have been put up on I-24 warning of ice and for drivers to slow down, which has helped keep crashes to a minimum.
"We're hoping people continue to obey those three basic rules of driving on snow and ice: slow down, and slow down, and slow down." Todd adds that coming into the winter season with a big snow event like this, and given that last year was a somewhat mild winter, people are not as confident driving on snow and ice, which means slower drivers. When people start speeding up, and getting over-confident, that could lead to more crashes. Bottom line: drive slowly and carefully.
