I doubt that Montana is any better than Minnesota, climate-wise, but Bozeman didn’t salt the roads as of when I was there. People just learned to drive on ice.
In the mountains, when it gets really iffy, drivers who want to get home alive typically use traction devices (chains or studs). In some parts of the country, where the land is primarily flat, those types of traction devices are not even legal to have on your tires.
I can’t speak to all of Montana, but my formative years in the eastern half (northeastern quarter, really) taught me that life if apparently cheaper than road salt.
And since the snow never really stopped anywhere*, there wasn’t much on the roads anyway.
- I suppose it must have stopped somewhere in North Dakota. It sure as hell never landed on the ground in any great profusion.
Is it really driving if it’s on ice? Or is it “sliding”?
Powers &8^]
It surprises me how many people insist that road salt is required to drive safely during the winter. In northern Canada, road salt isn’t used, because it’s worse than useless when it gets really cold due to refreezing. Gravel is used for traction, and black ice is why I’ve had a bag of sand or cat litter in the back of every vehicle I’ve owned.
Sand can be effective when you get enough sunny days, even if cold, that the sand absorbs enough sunlight to help evaporate the ice. Here in Minnesota we get enough consecutive days of overcast in the winter that I’ve bitched the state ought to be renamed Mordor.
Sand changes the texture of snow and ice even when it’s night. In some places it’s mixed with salt – the salt for warm weather, the sand for cold weather.
That’s certainly what’s done here on my part of the Great Plains.
While I agree that over salting can be wasteful and destructive, when used properly, it’s borderline essential. The alternative would require a major shift in what we collectively consider safe traveling conditions as well as a good deal of understanding about what can’t happen in the winter. Does your boss want you to stay home from work for the next few days because of glaze ice on the roads? Can you convince him that it’s best for everyone if the shipment doesn’t get through until next week or maybe next month?
I’m glad the days of mindlessly shoveling salt everywhere are mostly done. Like any tool, it needs to be used with an awareness of it’s uses and limits.
BTW, I don’t give a fig if your car rusts out. I’d rather have a functioning winter economy.
Salt and sand together is ideal. Our community here in the Midwest tried no salt for a year or two and it was a nightmare. Salt melts ice and that saves lives. Thank God city government came to its senses.
Different climate, different properties of water one has to deal with. And also mandatory snow tires up there due to that.
I remember the days long ago driving in rural Quebec and all they seemed to do is put down a single strip of sand on the center line. Usually when 2 cars coming from opposite directions approached each other I noticed the pattern that the apparently more capable vehicle was the one who ventured off the center line to allow safe passing.
Another is if you use a heated garage. My Dad had several rust issues over the years ¶ but I haven’t had a single one; the only difference is his garage is part of the house and heated and mine is detached (when I use it) and unheated. The constant freeze/thaw seems to not just make it worse in places that use rock salt but those that do not as well.
I can only comment from personal experience. Having to be at work by 6:30 am, I’m on the road by 6:00 at the latest so, when there has been snow or freezing rain during the night, I often encounter road conditions that haven’t been treated yet. Having to deal with that as opposed to treated roads has shown me that there is a world of difference between the two.
New York uses a mix. Here in NYC, we generally get salt, treated salt, and/or abrasives (sand). Occasionally liquid calcium chloride, liquid magnesium chloride and/or salt brine will be used here; I’m guessing it’s more prevalent north of NYC (which is all the rest of NYS). Rock salt (usually sodium chloride or calcium chloride) works well until it gets to about -6°F, which is fine for NYC 99%+ of the time. Albany and Buffalo aren’t so lucky.
Sodium chloride (common table salt) is the most common type, and may be applied to roads as rock salt or brine. Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride are sometimes called alternatives to road salt, but chemically, they are also salts. The sodium ion is particularly hard on woody plants.
Not only does salt effect the terrestrial roadside vegetation it also has an impact on emergent and submerged aquatic plants. Salt leaves the road and enters the environment by splash and spray from vehicles, transportation by wind, snow melt into the soil and as runoff to surface waters.