Road salt debate

[chairrock]

https://www.northcountrypublicradio....earview-mirror

[backwoodsman]

They put down a ridiculous amount of salt on the roads , and I think it's resulted in people driving at ridiculous speeds during the winter because they have no respect for winter conditions , even after driving past wrecks .
Truckload after truckload of straight salt being dumped everywhere , yeah we need a commission of high salaries for several years to study if that's bad for the watershed and environment .

[Woodly]

Originally Posted by backwoodsman

They put down a ridiculous amount of salt on the roads , and I think it's resulted in people driving at ridiculous speeds during the winter because they have no respect for winter conditions , even after driving past wrecks .
Truckload after truckload of straight salt being dumped everywhere , yeah we need a commission of high salaries for several years to study if that's bad for the watershed and environment .

I agree.
Salt isn't good for the environment or vehicles.
One can drive fairly fast on packed snow, I'm old enough to remember, but tourists demand clean roads and higher speeds.
Too, cinders and sand were what was used on hills and intersections.

[TCD]

Nothing new here. Same discussion from a couple years ago:

https://www.adkforum.com/showthread.php?t=25809

The article covers the same ground. It's reasonably accurate, except:

>It does disservice by trying to revise history to blame the Olympics for the use of road salt; that's simply false, and suggests some kind of political narrative.

>It states "no solutions have been found" which is not really true; the DOT is piloting various solutions already, as stated in their comment.

The logical next step would be to implement some of the existing technological solutions. As I said on the other thread, I think the taxpayers would be willing to pay for those.

(As a taxpayer, I agree that I don't want to pay for yet another do-nothing government commission, to enrich politicians' friends. But that's the way it's done in NY State. We will probably have to wait a few more years to see the implementation of solutions that are ready right now...)

[IndLk_Brett]

Someone recently told me a story about something that happened after they salted the roads during a storm the other day. They woke up to find lick marks all over their vehicle in the morning. Turns out the deer had been around and going after the salt left over on the car.

Mobile salt lick.

[backwoodsman]

Originally Posted by Woodly

I agree.
Salt isn't good for the environment or vehicles.
One can drive fairly fast on packed snow, I'm old enough to remember, but tourists demand clean roads and higher speeds.
Too, cinders and sand were what was used on hills and intersections.

It does a lot of damage to the roads and bridges also , it's one of those things that causes more problems than it solves.How often is salt even on the road long enough to do it's intended job before it's being scraped off and another coating put down. Scraped off into the ditches , into the creeks , and against the " Protect the Watershed " signs .

There's more than one way to spin your wheels .

[Woodly]

Originally Posted by IndLk_Brett

Someone recently told me a story about something that happened after they salted the roads during a storm the other day. They woke up to find lick marks all over their vehicle in the morning. Turns out the deer had been around and going after the salt left over on the car.

Mobile salt lick.

In some places in Canada there are; Do Not Let The Moose Lick Your Car' signs, seriously.

[Woodly]

Originally Posted by backwoodsman

It does a lot of damage to the roads and bridges also , it's one of those things that causes more problems than it solves.How often is salt even on the road long enough to do it's intended job before it's being scraped off and another coating put down. Scraped off into the ditches , into the creeks , and against the " Protect the Watershed " signs .

There's more than one way to spin your wheels .

All good points backwoodsman

[montcalm]

I can't imagine some kind of treatment going away on the major routes like the Northway (or in other parts of NY, I90, I81, etc..)

But... if one could remove its use from all other roads, I think you'd want to carry chains, and probably use them a good part of the time. Studs help, but in real icy conditions they rip right out.

And it's not the snow or packed snow that one needs to be concerned about. It's the thaw and refreeze or rain over snow and refreeze that will create sheer ice.

The other real danger that won't necessarily be mitigated by chains is black ice. Studs are your only real help for this because this kind of danger only exists sporadically, and you likely won't have your chains on when it's at its worst. And of course where you have bridges you have the issue of a seemingly clear and dry road that turns into an absolute skating rink as soon as you leave the thermal mass of the ground.

Studs and chains have major impacts on the road surface, and requires them to be resurfaced more often. In NY, this is why we have a seasonal limit for studded tires.

And somehow people seem to think 4wd or awd is the solution to their problems... but I see more of these vehicles in the ditch. Your stopping, and steering grip are a function of tires. So just because you can get going fast, doesn't mean you can control it.

[Bunchberry]

I can still remember the sound of my dad's studded snow tires on the bare road when he was coming home for work. We lived on Long Island.

[montcalm]

https://youtu.be/jjKTwcbdO5U