Road crews getting ready for winter

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Thankfully there is no snow in the forecast, but Kentucky’s road crews are already preparing for another winter season.

The state’s transportation cabinet says besides doing refresher courses in the classroom, crews also train in high-tech simulators and on test tracks so they can be ready for whatever winter might throw at them.

The transportation cabinet says those crews are also stocking the 140 salt barns around the state. The state says they have more than 306,000 tons of salt on hand.

But also something new this year, the state is setting up an emergency supply of salt underground.

“We have we have 158,000 tons already in storage in our emergency reserve in the Louisville underground,” KYTC’s Michael Williams says. “We’ll go into winter readily prepared regardless of what Mother Nature throws of us.”

November 1st was the official start of snow and ice season for road crews. It ends again on April 1, 2015.