The posts about the impending snowstorm on the east coast reminded me of a story my husband told me. He was at work where the floor superintendent was from Iowa. There was a freak storm in central Texas, depositing ice on the roadways. My husband was in his office, and the supervisor stopped in and asked my husband to call the county road crew and ask them to "get a salt truck out here" so workers could get up the hill. My husband reminded him that we are in Texas, and they just don't have salt trucks nor snow plows. The county crews do distribute sand on overpasses (think mini-Saharas) and you can still see the residue in May. I hope your areas are well supplied with salt trucks, snow plows, and that you are all warm, safe, and not snowed in.
TxDot (Texas Department of Transportation) uses “Meltdown 20” on the highways and some of the larger cities use that too, but it is very expensive so many cities still just use a sand and salt mix or some use just sand. And many years ago most cities decided to let the Spring rains wash it off the roads and highways because of the expense of those large sweepers and the dust they created that settled on everything around and caused a lot of asthma problems. Salt becomes less effective at melting ice from 32 degrees down, so the use of plain sand is more common.
Oh yes, but they still insist on using salt here, even with temps as low as -10°C or 14°F. The result is humps of ice all over the roads. Talk about a bumpy ride.
They use salt and sand here, sometimes a mix. They also spray the roads with a brine solution sometimes before an ice storm is forecast. Its a dirty mess by spring, but they send out the street sweepers to collect it all and recycle it. I live on a dirt road and so we are lucky if it is plowed at all sometimes, but most folks out here have trucks or all wheel drive.
With how the weather is changing all over it might be in everyone's best interest to invest in salt and a salt truck. The weather has been terrible for so many that usually don't have to put up with it. Our areas are all white just from the salt all over but we have had rain, so I am not sure if any of it will work or if they have to start all over. Quite a bit of our snow has melted but we are suppose to get another 8-12 inches this week, depending where you live. This morning we woke to warnings of black ice all over, meaning slippery areas that are hard to detect on roads and walkways..
