National Boards > General Highway Talk
Snow and ice removal
hbelkins:
Just before Christmas, Kentucky took a winter storm that saw rain change to snow, temperatures crash about 50 degrees in a span of a few hours, and flash-frozen roads with a couple of inches of snow on them. The temperature barely budged above 0 F on the 23rd and not much warmer on Christmas Eve.
There were huge traffic messes, including one on I-71 between US 127 and I-75.
A lot of Kentucky's messaging during that time was that melting agents don't work when it gets that cold. Kentucky typically uses standard salt and will wet it down in the spreader trucks with liquid calcium chloride, but that proved ineffective for a lot of the snow removal.
What do other states use to melt snow and ice, especially those in New England and the upper midwest where they're used to temps hovering around 0? This has to be something that North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Maine deal with several times a year. How do they clear their roads?
SEWIGuy:
--- Quote from: hbelkins on December 29, 2022, 02:30:31 PM ---Just before Christmas, Kentucky took a winter storm that saw rain change to snow, temperatures crash about 50 degrees in a span of a few hours, and flash-frozen roads with a couple of inches of snow on them. The temperature barely budged above 0 F on the 23rd and not much warmer on Christmas Eve.
There were huge traffic messes, including one on I-71 between US 127 and I-75.
A lot of Kentucky's messaging during that time was that melting agents don't work when it gets that cold. Kentucky typically uses standard salt and will wet it down in the spreader trucks with liquid calcium chloride, but that proved ineffective for a lot of the snow removal.
What do other states use to melt snow and ice, especially those in New England and the upper midwest where they're used to temps hovering around 0? This has to be something that North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Maine deal with several times a year. How do they clear their roads?
--- End quote ---
The roads up here were pretty bad until yesterday when it warmed up into the 20s. Then they scraped them with plows and used salts. Now that its above freezing, the roads are mostly just wet, but snow still exists where there isn't a lot of traffic.
GaryV:
In northern Michigan, especially the UP, often they plow the snow as best they can and spread sand on whatever is remaining.
Dirt Roads:
In West Virginia, the DOH used sand and once-upon-a-time used cinders. I believe that cinders are no longer considered to be healthy because of the potential for high concentrations of sulfur and heavy metal contaminants. (Of course, in West Virginia we also spelt that chemical element as "Sulphur").
But if you missed my point in a previous post, those other states (including West Virginia) do not try to completely remove the snow from the roadway surface. Instead (speaking from a West Virginia point of view), we were taught that it is sometimes necessary to drive in snow and ice and that it is OK to do the slip-slide occasionally, even if it meant that you plowed into somebody else (or a tree). The DOH experimented with heated guideway technology back in the 1970s, but the main purpose was to prevent salt damage to bridges (ergo potholes and corrosion of important structural elements), rather than complete snow and ice removal.
Max Rockatansky:
Caltrans doesn’t do much beyond basic plowing and use of occasional brine.
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