Roads in Boone County are beginning to reopen as blockages caused by yesterday afternoon’s severe thunderstorms are cleared.
The county experienced severe storm damage on Aug. 11, resulting in downed power lines, uprooted trees, power outages and property damage. Following the storm, road crews from Boone County Public Works and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 6 began clearing debris and removing fallen trees.
Newly appointed Boone County Engineer Tom Logan, who also oversees the county’s public works department, told LINK nky that he dispatched two response crews: one in the Petersburg area of northwestern Boone County and the other in the Verona area of southern Boone County.
“We knew right away that given the reports we were hearing about — I think wind gusts approaching 50 miles an hour at CVG — we knew that there was likely going to be some debris given those sustained winds and the velocities that we were hearing,” Logan said.
The Public Works Department collaborated with the Public Safety Communications Center to identify the roads requiring the most attention. Logan said that Brown Road, located west of Interstate 71, was significantly impacted by fallen debris, as crews worked through the evening to reopen the road.
By Tuesday night, Logan said the crews had made most of the affected roads passable. Crews used heavy equipment, such as a mini-excavator and a backhoe, to remove some of the heavier debris.
Public Works crews resumed work around 7 a.m. this morning, though they were temporarily delayed due to rain and lightning. Like yesterday, much of their work consisted of clearing large obstacles from roadways.
“Once that storm cleared, we’ve been back out, continuing to remove debris, with my primary focus being having our roads passable,” Logan said.
Around 11 a.m. this morning, KYTC announced that a nearly one-mile stretch of Burlington Pike, also known as KY-18, had reopened after road crews cleared blockages caused by downed utility lines and trees. The road was previously blocked off from Belleview Road and Middle Creek Road.
