‘Not your typical weather event’: Local crews invest over 800 hours into snow fighting efforts in Hopkinsville

See the latest about snow plowing efforts in Hopkinsville to clear primary and secondary routes of snow and ice.

Christian County NowHopkinsville Public Works snow plow truck. Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Dec. 12, 2023 (Daynnah Carmona)

HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – Since Jan. 22, local crews with Hopkinsville Public Works have invested around 850 man hours to pretreat, plow, and salt roads in the city. The department is currently utilizing a dozen plow trucks, ten of which have salt spreaders, to attempt to clear roads of several inches of snow and ice.

“This is not your typical winter event, with snow to freezing rain to sleet, back to snow and the frigid temperatures has created a very difficult removal process,” said Hopkinsville Public Works Director Mike Perry. He added that crews are currently prioritizing clearing primary and secondary routes, with conditions likely to improve by Jan. 29.

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Overcoming challenges, encountering snowplow on roads

“With the extreme low temperatures at night, it is setting all plow operation back,” Perry told Christian County Now. “We have run plows over most city and state streets within the city limits but with very little success in removing much material off of the streets.”

Large amounts of traffic on roads when snow began to fall on Saturday caused the snow to tightly pack and create a base of ice. Perry explained that plows are not designed to remove packed ice from roads, with the trucks only having the capability to remove around a quarter inch at a time until temperatures rise above freezing.

If residents have seen plows driving on Christian County roads without actively plowing or salting, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has advised that the truck is likely traveling to a designated route.

“When a plow is traveling to or from its assigned route, it won’t be plowing or salting until it reaches that starting point,” said a statement from KYTC District 2. “If they did salt along the way, they wouldn’t have enough salt to run their route. They don’t plow the roads along the way, because other drivers are responsible for those routes. If they plow a road another driver has just driven, they will be pushing salt off the roadway.”

Public works has advised that they have plenty of salt in storage and crews are continuing to apply it as needed. However, the salt is not effective when the temperature drops below 20 degrees. Motorists are urged to use caution when snow and ice crews are present, as these vehicles will be moving slowly during the application process.