| Road Manager
Snowbelt vs Sunbelt — Winter Maintenance Methods Vary
Many sunbelt states face occasional ice and snow, but can’t afford
the road-clearing methods used by snowbelt-state agencies.
by Ruth W.
Stidger, Editor-in-Chief
 Snowplows and stocks of chemical anti-icers or deicers aren’t part of
the road agency plan in most sunbelt states. Yet, in some cases, they
probably should be.
City and state agency managers are naive when they think ice and snow
don’t cause problems for their drivers. Sure, Atlanta and Dallas may
only experience one snow event and two or three ice storms each winter.
Those storms create hazards and need to be addressed.
In fact, snow and ice create the most hazardous conditions in areas
where they seldom occur. Drivers aren’t experienced with the slick
stuff, but with today’s plethora of four-wheel drive SUVs and pickups,
they believe they can drive anywhere in any conditions, creating a recipe
for disaster.
Sunbelt budgets
Agencies in sunbelt states spend little or nothing on winter
maintenance. They often use a wait-till-it-melts philosophy. With few
freeze cycles, they even budget little or nothing for frost-heave repairs.
How can they meet drivers’ winter road needs without setting up a
snowplow or deicing fleet that would sit idle most of the time? There are
two solutions:
1. Adapt vehicles for multiple uses, such as adding quick-change blades
to trucks for clearing snow. Add salter or sander devices to trucks
already in their fleet.
2. Outsource the work. Companies that clean parking lots with blades
and/or sweepers may be able to contract road cleaning work when an ice or
snow storm hits. Outsourcing avoids the needed crew training within the
agency, cutting both labor and equipment costs.
Some sunbelt states contain snowbelt segments and need full fleets and
crews. In many circumstances, these can be shifted to meet temporary needs
in areas which seldom get snow or ice. California, Alabama, Texas, and New
Mexico fit into this slot, with snow and no-snow zones.
Snowbelt lessons
Keeping major roads and streets dry means business as usual for most
snowbelt-state agencies. Sunbelt-state departments can learn from their
icier peers.
1. Anti-icing keeps drivers happy because the roadway doesn’t freeze.
With warmer temperatures than very cold states, even during a winter
storm, anti-icing requires less use of material in sunbelt- compared to
snowbelt-state applications.
2. Salt, the lowest-cost deicer, can be made much less corrosive by
mixing it with other chemicals. See The State of the States’ Anti-Icing
Technology and The Future of Solid Deicers, both in the April, 2002 issue
of Better Roads, as well as the Workbook section on page 30 in this issue.
3. Form alliances with other geographically near agencies when they
also have marginal snow and ice control needs. Share equipment, training,
and crews to keep costs down.
4. Call a halt to let-it-melt snow and ice control. Know the first
areas to freeze, such as bridges and overpasses, and anti-ice these even
when temperature forecasts are only slightly below freezing.
Reprinted from Better Roads Magazine
August 2002 |
