Lexington has struggled to dig out from the storm. Fayette County Public Schools haven’t had in-person class in nearly two weeks, it was unclear Monday how many small residential streets have been plowed, and Mayor Linda Gorton has addressed the need for more preparedness when it comes to ice.
Two points came up again and again in the Tuesday meeting: what were once considered rare weather events are becoming normal for the city, and neighborhood streets may need more attention in the next winter storm.
“Whether it is these ice storms, whether it is tornadoes and flooding across the commonwealth, we are experiencing more severe weather events more frequently,” 4th District Council member Emma Curtis said in the Tuesday meeting.
“While I understand the desire to plan based on (past storms) … we are living in unprecedented times, and I hope we can take that into consideration.”
Winter Storm Blair came in January 2025, the first storm of its kind in many years to bring a calamitous mix of both snow and ice. After a troubled winter response last year, Gorton said Lexington would be more prepared in the future.
But more than a week after Winter Storm Fern’s ice and snow are still blocking lanes on major roadways and completely blanketing many neighborhood streets, frustrated residents and some local candidates say that was simply not the case this time around.
Gorton and Nancy Albright, Lexington’s commissioner of environmental quality and public works, have said staff will revise the city’s winter plan in the coming months. The city has reached a point where ice needs to be planned for just like snow has been, they say.
“We need to look at a totally different strategic plan for our weather response … these two-in-a-row ice storms are killers,” Gorton said Tuesday. “They immobilize us.”
But how exactly the new strategic plan looks will depend not just on best practices and lessons learned, but on how much council is willing to spend.
“It’s always going to be a matter of resource,” Vice Mayor Dan Wu said. “If we wanted to create a winter response plan that could handle literally any situation ever, we could do it. But it may take the entirety of our city’s budget … it’s a zero-sum game when we play with dollars.”
As several council members asked if the city would prioritize more neighborhood streets in the future, Albright made that same point.
“If we wanted to do that as a city, it would require a decision about our investment strategy,” Albright said. “The dollars associated with buying enough trucks and hiring enough to staff to clear more roads faster is significant.”
Lexington made an effort to put more money into the snow plan after 2025’s storm, investing $2 million.
The city’s response when it comes to clearing roads is still focused on major corridors such as Man o’ War Boulevard and Harrodsburg Road, which in some sections have only one or two cleared lanes and covered turn lanes, more than a week after Winter Storm Fern.
Not only are these roads typically home to most local employers and essential services like hospitals, but they are the most trafficked, Albright said.
An additional focus this week is clearing areas around Rupp Arena, according to Albright. Several University of Kentucky basketball games and other events will bring tens of thousands of people within just a few of blocks downtown, which could create many safety hazards if roads aren’t navigable.
Some council members think neighborhood streets should be more of a priority for the city right now.
“My main concern lies within neighborhood streets, especially those that are ranked four and five, and even some of the roads that are unranked,” 1st District Council member Tyler Morton said. “Our goal should be to get the ice removed as quickly as possible so that life can return to normal.”
As staff evaluates the city’s response to Winter Storm Fern, 10th District Council member Dave Sevigny said the economic impact of residents unable to get to work should be considered alongside how much the city spent on salt, vehicles and staff time.
“A lot of people on the margins who can’t get to their place of work are also one paycheck away from being in a really bad situation,” Sevigny said. “I want to make sure that we’re considering overall productivity and the loss of employment, the loss of income to these people, and how that flows through the entire system.”
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