Although there is a shortage of road salt, Rowan County is pleased, overall, with the county road department’s performance during icy conditions.
Road Supervisor Tim Stevens attended Tuesday’s fiscal court meeting to make sure he was meeting the county’s expectations.
“I’ve got four hours sleep the last two nights worrying,” he told court members.
Judge-executive Jim Nickell said adjoining counties are doing much less, including Elliott, Morgan and Fleming.
“When you look at what other counties are doing, compared to what we’re doing, you’re doing a good job, Tim,” Nickell said.
Montgomery County is using a 50/50 mixture of pea gravel and salt, he added.
“You can get some traction on ice,” Stevens said. “The problem that I’ve seen with them is if you’re plowing snow and it’s flying over the top of your truck back into your bed, those rocks will freeze on you and it’ll clump up in your salt.”
Nickell reminded him that all counties are dealing with the salt shortage.
“I’m going to be honest with you guys,” Stevens said. “We have, in the past, used way too much salt. There is not a doubt in my mind. Normally we’re using 125 to 135 tons per round in this county. I’ve used 175 up until (Sunday) on five or six events.”
He has stretched the county’s salt supply by mixing it with sawdust. The sawdust keeps roads from re-freezing. At the start of winter, the county road department had 600 tons of sawdust. It now has 300 tons.
Crews start de-icing the county’s roads by treating critical areas such as hills, curves and areas with a heavy traffic flow.
Sunday, Jan. 18 was the first day the road department treated the entire county. It took Stevens and his crew nine hours to treat the county’s 666 roads.
He said it would be a good idea to make his trial solution to the nation’s salt shortage a permanent one.
He worries about when and when not to treat roads.
“I’m here to tell you when you know you’ve got 600 ton (of sawdust) and three months of bad weather, it’s a hard call,” he said.
Salt companies are charging double, compared to last year, according to Nickell.
The judge assured Stevens that if it looks like the county will run out of salt and sawdust, the county will have to “bite the bullet” and buy more, whatever the cost.
Local News
Court pleased with road department
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Goldy wins prosecutor’s race
Morehead attorney Ronnie Goldy Jr. will be the next commonwealth’s attorney in the 21st Judicial Circuit consisting of Rowan, Bath, Menifee and Montgomery counties.
He carried three of the four counties in Tuesday’s Democratic primary and garnered a total of 2,575 votes.
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Fiscal Court to repair Hamilton Bridge
Updates on the progress of plans for the new animal shelter, Hamilton Road Bridge project and salt purchase agreement were provided Tuesday at the meeting of Rowan County Fiscal Court.
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Boyhood awe becomes life’s work in butterflies
Richard Hesterberg said he was intrigued by butterflies from his youth, admiring and catching the fluttering creatures. They became his passionate pursuit on the day he saw a photograph in a magazine.
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DUI suspect flees two accident scenes
Michael Butler, 34, of Morehead, was arrested late Friday after he hit a vehicle, drove away and several minutes later crashed over a guardrail.
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Voting places get upgrades
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Uninsured motorists risk cancellation of registration
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Former MSU student dies after collapsing
Former Morehead State University student and Aramark employee, Justin Story, 28, passed away at UK Medical Center early this morning.
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Sparse ballot for Tuesday’s primary
Rowan County’s 13,017 voters won’t have many choices to make when they go to the polls in next Tuesday’s primary election. Republicans will see only the presidential primary which has become a formality with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney now the presumptive GOP nominee. Also on that ballot are Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul.
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Parking issues top Council agenda
Administrative matters took up much of the agenda at Monday’s regular meeting of the Morehead City Council, but the perennial downtown parking issue arose again. Council discussed problems with persons being ticketed during downtown events such as Noon Tunes, and passed a motion directing Mayor David Perkins to identify means to encourage citizens to patronize Main Street businesses over the summer, which may include relaxing downtown parking rules.
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Goldy wins prosecutor’s race
