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Officials praise county response to major storm, plan report to KYTC on GPS routing and interstate closures
Summary
Officials said early actions to keep vehicles on the interstate and coordination with the National Guard and towing companies helped during a recent storm. The court agreed to prepare a report to Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) about GPS routing, interstate closures and coordination during extreme events.
Gallatin County officials told the Fiscal Court on Jan. 9 that county response during a recent major storm prevented worse outcomes by keeping vehicles on the interstate and coordinating with state and federal resources.
A county official (unnamed) said when the interstate was closed during the event, command decisions prioritized keeping vehicles on the interstate rather than allowing motorists to divert onto secondary roads, which the official said likely kept many motorists from becoming stranded. The official said the county will prepare a report for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) describing actions taken and offering recommendations for faster updates to navigation services such as Waze and Google, which the official said sent routing guidance that sometimes indicated an interstate closure even after the county had reopened the road.
Officials also described mixed availability of tow-truck companies during the event and noted the National Guard ultimately assisted with pulling vehicles and moving people once the county requested support. The official said the county will brief KYTC on specific operational issues, including GPS-routing updates and coordination with state incident-management teams, so local responders and KYTC can work to reduce conflicting information during future events.
No formal policy was adopted at the meeting; officials described this as follow-up work and briefing for KYTC and other partners.
