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RANDY PATRICK

The Jessamine Journal

Local road crews were preparing Tuesday afternoon for what meteorologists expected could be the worst weather of the winter.

The National Weather Service forecast a mixture of freezing rain and snow, with possible ice accumulations of a quarter to three-quarters of an inch and one to two inches of snow from Tuesday night into Thursday.

William Hager, crew chief for the Jessamine County Road Department, said the county would ordinarily spread salt only on county roads, but if it gets cold enough and there’s heavy ice, “salt won’t do much good.”

“We’ll have to put down a little bit of gravel to help give traction,” he said.

Hager said the county has plenty of salt and gravel, and it has four trucks equipped with snow plows.

Dave Brown, superintendent of public works for the City of Nicholasville, said his department has eight trucks and plenty of salt. He said the city just built a new storage building that will hold 600 tons of salt, and it’s about three-quarters full, “so we ought to have enough to get us through this event,” he said.

Dave Carlstedt, head of public works and utilties for the City of Wilmore, said he has a dump truck and a couple of pickups equipped with blades and plenty of salt, and the city has a contract with Hager Construction to help out if needed in the event of a heavy winter storm.

“We’re in pretty good shape,” he said.

Kyle Montgomery, Jessamine County’s superintendent for the state Department of Highways declined to talk about his crew’s preparations because, he said, policy prohibits it.