Louisville residents question snow removal priorities as complaints pile up from winter storm

LOUISVILLE, Ky (WDRB) — If you live on a residential street that’s not on an emergency route, chances are you didn’t see a snowplow after January's winter storm.

And if you live near a hospital, a school, or one of the city’s larger employers, that still may not have made a difference.

The reason? City leaders said Tuesday it comes down to manpower, equipment and money.

"We’re going to stick to our snow map and the routes on our snow map," said Bill Bell, director of the Louisville Metro Department of Transportation. "We’re going to entertain suggestions from Metro Council or the public on new routes or new roadways to put on routes."

Metro Council members said they’ve heard plenty from frustrated residents.

"I know that we've gotten a lot of responses from our constituents saying 'We asked you to plow a road,'" said Councilwoman Jennifer Chappell, D-15. "And of course, not all of them got plowed, but a lot of them."

Records obtained from the city by WDRB show 222 pages of complaints about roads that weren’t plowed. Metro Council members themselves submitted another 100 complaints.

Still, Metro Public Works officials insist they are not ignoring those concerns.

"Right now, we found out we're at capacity," Bell said. "So what we've talked about doing is having a secondary map in case we have a big event like this. If we have contractors or crews that have already cleared the main streets, maybe we can hit some of these secondary roads."

Sidewalks and accessibility remain a challenge

It’s not just the streets that were impacted. The snow and ice also created major problems for pedestrians and those with disabilities.

Earlier this month, Louisville resident Matt Gibbons showed WDRB what that looks like from a wheelchair.

"I have to travel on the road and watch myself for cars and watch for this and watch for that," Gibbons said. "So I can be safe. That’s not fair, Louisville."

City leaders said they’ve heard those complaints too.

"That was a real complaint that we got this year," one official said. "People were angry and also saying 'Well, if you have a law, why aren't you enforcing it?'"

Louisville’s city ordinance gives property owners 24 hours to clear snow from sidewalks or face a fine. But according to city records, no one has ever been fined.

That led to a bigger question: What happens when the property owner is the government?

"Many of the stops that I could see in my neighborhood were completely inaccessible," said Metro Councilman Lyninger, D-6. "The buses were having to block the intersection or pull over to another corner. My wheelchair can’t even make it over there. Whose responsibility is it? The buck stops here for our TARC stops being accessible during a snow event."

City looks for solutions

Ideas on the table include using volunteers, such as high school students who need community service hours, or issuing fines to property owners who don’t clear their sidewalks.

As for residential streets that still don’t make the city’s snow map, officials said homeowners can hire private contractors or call their Metro Council member to request changes before the next storm.