Snow Fighting Strategies on a Budget (consideration)

The first truth that must be understood and accepted is that road drivability conditions will not be maintained at past standards. Although roads can be maintained in a safe and navigable condition the driving public will have to reduce speeds to maintain safe driving.

1. Transition Areas A large amount of salt can be saved through the proper use of chemical treatment of transition areas only. Transition Areas - Refers to any portion of the road in which the driving public either changes direction or speed. Examples are "S" or Sweeping Curves, Major Intersections, Turn Lanes etc. Straight sections of road were a constant speed is maintained should not be treated.
2. Road Temperature After the first snow storm limiting treatment of road surfaces until the road temperature is 29 degrees F or below will limit wasted salt. Most roads will maintain a salt residue that will provide safe driving down to a road temperature of 28 degrees F.

3. Heavy Winds When heavy blowing is forecasted efforts to prevent windrows should be maximized, and salt treatment should be minimized. Plowing techniques such as plowing with the blade turned to throw snow in the direction the wind is blowing and across the open lane. When heavy blowing is forecasted a great deal of effort is used to try to overcome the wind by plowing snow against the wind. This technique is self defeating, undoubtedly the plowed snow will eventually pile up into a windrow and increase the buildup on the driving surface. With some basic rules plowing with the wind can be accomplished safely on rural highways.
A minimum of 2 miles visibility and at least 1/2 mile separation between traffic and the plow truck should be the minimum standard for safe operations.
If the potential to create a windrow is high, rather than plowing against the wind the plow truck should stop when safe and practical to allow traffic to pass before continuing operations.
The plow should always be turned away from traffic well before traffic approaches the vicinity of the plow truck to allow blowing snow to clear and improve the visibility before the traffic attempts to pass.

4. Extreme Cold When temperatures are falling quickly it is often better to leave snow pack untreated after the initial treatment, to allow the dropping temperatures to break the bond between the snow pack and the road. Often this occurs as road temperatures fall below approximately 10-15 degrees F. At this point frozen snow pack can normally be plowed from the road although some ice cover may still exist under the packed snow. Even with ice cover as long as the road surface is flat it can be safely traversed as long as speeds are reduced.

5. Brine/Prewet The current standard is 8 gal/ton, for accelerated melting of hard pack snow prewet equip. should be turned to the maximum setting allowed by the equip. that will allow even treatment for the entire route. This is especially useful when sunlight is minimal or the warm temperatures are going to be lost.

This is only a basic guide of some techniques to consider during extreme budget limitations. When budgets return to normal our level of service can return to normal.

Although some of these techniques may be unconventional, sometimes unconventional times require unconventional solutions.