Crews Ready for Weekend Snow Overnight duty likely into Saturday LOUISVILLE (Jan. 24, 2014) – Louisville Metro crews are on alert for weekend snow removal duty because of a severe weather system that is expected to move into the area overnight and into Saturday. Regular snow removal and salting routes include 2,700 lane miles covering all major streets throughout Jefferson County but do not include side streets and subdivisions. There is still a coating of salt residue from treatments earlier this week, so it is not necessary to further pretreat with brine ahead of this next snow event. “As we have seen with a couple of prior snows, the artic temperatures make it harder for the salt to melt the snow and frequently results in refreezing in areas that have been treated,” said Greg Hicks, who oversees the city’s snow team. This will be the 11th snow event of the season, equaling the number the city experienced for the entire season a year ago. These events, and salt orders placed this week, have exhausted the $1.4 million budgeted for snow removal this year. However, snow removal efforts will continue uninterrupted. “Snow removal is an essential service similar to police and fire protection, and we will do what is necessary to see that it is provided,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “The good news is we still have five months left in the fiscal year so finding the additional money will not be a problem.” Above ground stocks of salt, which stood at 15,000 tons at the beginning of the season, have been restocked several times and now stand at 5,000 tons with an additional 7,000 newly ordered tons arriving this week and into next week. An additional 20,000 tons of salt is held in reserve underground at the MegaCaverns facility under the Louisville Zoo. Citizens can get snow alerts on Twitter (@lousnowplow). An interactive online map also shows what routes have been treated —louisvilleky.gov/PublicWorks/snowremovalcenter.htm
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 20:11:11 +0000
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