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I think you have answered your own question. The urban areas you speak of have more traffic and different weather conditions and different snow characteristics (all snow is not equal!) than other parts of the country including rural areas in the same region.
For anyone who has lived in both rural and urban areas the difference in approach to maintaining road in the winter is very noticeable. However, I think there is probably good reason for this and that relying primarily just on plowing and sanding wouldn’t cut it in the urban environments of the East and Midwest.
As you point out high volumes of traffic can make roads slicker. Even if road conditions could be maintained the same a few fender benders can snarl an urban expressway during rush hour so I imagine maintaining the best possible conditions and restoring a clear road surface as soon as possible is a priority of planners. Regardless, road conditions really can’t be maintained the same between the two environments. There is the already mentioned icing heavy traffic (especially stop and go) can cause. In addition, under certain conditions rapid heavy wet snowfall and heavy traffic can produce a thick solid snow pack even plows can’t effectively scrape. Unless nature or deicing agents help to break it up the road surface on a heavily traveled road will become the consistency of a rutted washed out gravel road within a week. About 8 years ago we had exactly this sort of situation, a heavy wet snow followed immediately by a week of sub-zero temperatures to cold for salt to work (daily highs below –20 F). It made for an interesting week of commuting and was a surprise given that I had grown up where the road in front of our house was snow packed almost all winter but remained very drivable.
But why salt? First it is worth pointing out that communities have been working to reduce their salt usage for both economic and environmental reasons. New computer controlled equipment and roadway-monitoring systems allow a lot less salt to be used than in the past. In addition more alternatives to salt are being used on roads. Although in many cases it is used only when salt is ineffective (e.g., too cold) it is being used in some communities to reduce the amount of salt used. Ok great but why use SALT at all? Hell I don’t know probably cause it is relatively CHEAP, effective, and abundant. Undoubtedly it is easier for officials to dump salt than to raise our taxes to use more expensive chemicals. So maybe it is a conspiracy after all but I guess we are part of it. Ask your city officials why and let them know your views. This is one way you can help continue and speed the reduction in salt usage.
posted by 216.165.15...
, Sat, 13 Oct 2001 13:45:16
, Sat, 13 Oct 2001 11:28:57
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