Snow Again

One of the biggest factors that determine the city’s snow plowing performance is the type of storm and range of temperatures. There are reportedly more than 60,000 combinations of winter storms that can hit Wisconsin during the winter and each storm poses unique problems to snowplow operators. Storms with low temperatures can be difficult because de-icing agents become less effective at the lower temperatures. Storms with high winds also are a challenge because the snow quickly blows back onto the roadway after the plows pass.
There is no doubt that salt makes the roadways safer during the winter. Salt lowers the freezing point of snow and ice and keeps the snow "workable" so it is more easily removed. Salt can be used for anti-icing, de-icing, or melting. Anti-icing is a technique where a chloride is applied to the roadway prior to a storm to prevent the snow/ice from bonding to the pavement. De-icing and melting is when a chloride is applied after the storm has begun in order to break up ice and snow pack or to melt glare/black ice.
The city may apply salt to a bare street when the projected temperature of the road surface will influence the treatment of a road. If plowing operations have finished and a road is left in “black and wet” condition, there is sometimes a danger of the water re-freezing on the road. There are times, especially at night, when a post-storm salt application may be necessary.
The city doesn’t use a lot of sand because the body of research on the use of sand, indicates the benefits of abrasives (sand) applied to roadways are very minimal. Abrasives are easily displaced from the roadway by traffic and have no ice melting properties. There are also negative environmental consequences such as siltation of waterways.