Changes come to Lexington snow plow routes
Lexington horse farm on snowy day. Source: Don Sniegowski
In Tuesday’s Environmental Quality and Public Works (EQPW) Committee, Director of Streets and Roads Rob Allen will present an overview of the snow plan for this coming winter season.
Over the past 5 years, LFUCG has applied an average of 6,331 tons of road salt annually across the county. Currently, the City has 8,800 tons of road salt on hand, which is the most that it can currently store at one time. There is enough money in the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Budget to purchase an additional 5,742 tons if needed.
This year, Streets and Roads plans to significantly revise their snow plow routes and zones. Previously, snow plow routes have been clustered within thirteen zones in Lexington. After the recent Completion of the Snow Route Optimization Study, Streets and Roads will implement a new eight-zone map.
The study says this new route system reduces the overall amount of time to treat roads, clusters routes which makes plows more efficient, and allows room for zones to expand in growing areas of Lexington.
The city plows roads in a specific hierarchy. Major roads in and out of the city, major connector streets, collector streets, and roads in and out of neighborhoods are ranked roads, which get plowed in that order in the event of a snow storm under 4”. Combined, those roads total 1,174 miles.
Above 4” snow storms, neighborhood roads and collector streets are also plowed.
You can review the presentation slides starting on page three of this packet.
The Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee will meet on Tuesday, October 22nd at 1pm in Council Chambers. You can attend in-person or watch live on LexTV.
