Pre-treating the roads with salt brine, salt, or a mixture of salt and calcium chloride is the first step in fighting a snowstorm. The LFUCG stockpiles a minimum of 3,000 gallons of salt brine, 6,000 tons of rock salt (sodium chloride) and approximately 5,000 gallons of calcium chloride to begin the snow season.

Rock salt is the most widely used de-icing agent in the United States because of its cost and effectiveness. When the temperature is above 25 degrees, salt can melt several inches of snow and prevent or reduce the bonding of compacted snow to the pavement surface.

Salt is less effective at temperatures below 25 degrees and/or when traffic volumes are too light to activate the chemicals. For lower temperatures, a ratio of 9 gallons of liquid calcium chloride to every ton of sodium chloride (salt) is used to treat the pavement. The calcium chloride reacts with salt to create effective melting at temperatures to 20 degrees below zero.

Depending on the expected conditions, the Division of Streets, Roads & Forestry will be proactive and apply a salt brine to streets to try to keep ice and snow from bonding to the pavement.

Streets, Roads & Forestry has two hand-held pavement thermometers and two truck-mounted infrared thermometers to test the temperature of the pavement. The temperature of the pavement helps them determine which method of snow-and-ice control to use.

A fog-and-ice-detection system, which detects the amount of moisture present on the pavement and determines the exact point at which it freezes, is in place on the Clays Ferry bridge. When freezing begins, a signal is sent to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in Frankfort and to the LFUCG’s Traffic Management Center. The Division of Streets, Roads & Forestry is then notified that freezing has begun at Clays Ferry, and they can respond accordingly as freezing begins on Lexington’s streets.

In most cases, when snow reaches a depth of one inch, snow plowing is initiated.