<VV> Road salt vs. none

[Thesuperscribe at cs.com]

Because I live in Ohio (and grew up in Wisconsin), and have experienced 
winter conditions in other places, I think I understand why they use road salt in 
most of the Midwest and East but not Idaho and elsewhere in the West. It's the 
climate(s).

Here the winters are not only cold much of the time but often damp. After 
snow and freezing rain falls, they stay 'til we get a thaw. That might not come 
for weeks, and a deep freeze often ensues first. If a municipality doesn't have 
a lot of equipment for its size (like the City of Columbus), they can't get 
the snow clear from the side streets, especially, before it begins hardening. 

In many places out West the air is consistantly dry (especially at higher 
altitudes, like Colorado Springs), and it can warm up in a day or two or three 
and start melting or sublimating (evaporating straight into the air). Crews can 
spread some sand and that'll be good because the snow will soon begin 
disappearing. Yes, they have to plow, but once it's scraped close to the pavement the 
sun will take care of it. 

I get as irked as anybody when I see that a municipal or state crew has 
grossly oversalted or sprayed brine on a Thursday or Friday because a little snow 
is forecast during the weekend and the department wants to save some overtime. 
Now you got me started.

--Tom in Ohio

***

In a message dated 2/15/2009 6:44:42 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
virtualvairs-request at corvair.org writes: 
> 
> For my money, they could just skip the salt and require people to use
> snow/ice tires. (OH NO, We couldn't force people to spend money)  I have
> snow/ice tires on two of my vehicles and they're amazing. My third
> winter-equipped vehicle has studded snow tires and they don't work
> nearly as
> well.  "All Season Tires" are a joke.  The Canadian DOT produced a video
> on
> all season tires and showed how they harden beginning at temperatures
> below
> 45 degrees and asked viewers to imagine a rock-hard hockey puck on
> sliding
> on ice vs. a rubber sponge (snow/ice tires) that develop decent traction
> on
> the same ice. Believe me, a $400 set of ice tires is far, far less
> expensive
> than replacing your vehicle due to rust out.  Our 10-year old Astro van
> still looks almost new underneath where a '97 Astro in Ohio is all done;
> Ohioans have to buy a new van, I still have 10 more years in mine - all
> due
> to not using salt in our area.  Also, because they barely use salt here
> in
> North Idaho, I can drive my Corvair in the winter with little concern.
> On
> the other hand, rusted out cars support the auto and salt industries so
> I
> guess they'll just keep on salting away.
> 
> Craig Nicol