I was just talking to my brother about this subject the other day. He's the
foreman at the Lake County IL car & light duty truck shop for the Department
of Transportation. A majority of the folks there also are on plow & salt
truck routes throughout the winter. I've not seen an area use as much salt
as Lake COunty does. They have a "dry pavement" policy. No matter how much
snow falls, they'll plow and salt until the roads are dry... and let me tell
you, that's a lot of salt.
You'd think that Wisconsin or Minnesota, or Iowa and Nebraska that typically
get far more snow would use more salt, but there's no comparison.
In Cook COunty IL (south of me) where Chicago is, a mayor lost his
re-election bid due to his administration's lax policyon snow removal.
I've had the "pleasure" of driving in just about every northern climate
state in the winter, and nobody uses as much salt as they do here. It's f'n
depressing. First bit of lousy weather, and all the fun cars get put away.
As far as any commercial car wash being able to remove any salt buildup from
the occasional winter drive... I'm not buying it. Too many important spots
will hold that moist salt residue that will ultimately wreak havoc on your
Spridget.
Rust never sleeps, and in Lake COunty, IL.. on a quiet night, you can hear
your car rusting.
WST
-----Original Message-----
From owner-spridgets at autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-spridgets@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Guy Weller
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2003 1:51 PM
To: Robert E. Shlafer
Cc: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Snow and Ice and Salt
Hi Cap'n,
Yes, they have been salting roads in the UK for at least as long ago as
that. (i.e. since before 1958)
With our weather being so unpredictable the matter of when to salt the
roads, and how much, is something that the local road agencies have a real
problem with each year. They stock-pile road grit (salt) before the winter
sets in and a have a finite budget to work with so if they use too much in
the early part of the winter, they run out before spring.
Actually, NOT a job to be envied because they simply cannot win! Not enough
salt and we end up with traffic chaos because most drivers simply cannot
cope on snow or ice. Too much and they will run out before the end of
winter, and more traffic chaos!!
Actually the best winter driving I have ever had here is on deserted roads
when I lived in Northumberland ( no - one to get in the way!) which were
completely untreated. Drifts were up to 4 foot deep but the car I was
driving at the time had snow tyres (no, not studded) and concrete blocks on
board to give it a bit of extra "bite". I did a 60 mile cross country
journey on real back roads in near blizzard conditions, and found that by
keeping the speed up to around 50 it would just plough straight through
banks of snow as high as the car! Brilliant and exhilarating fun.
Guy
----- Original Message -----
From "Robert E. Shlafer" <PilotRob at webtv.net>
To: "Guy Weller" <Guy.Weller@kencomp.net>
Cc: "spridgets" <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2003 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: Snow and Ice and Salt
> "And as for dealing with salt...."
>
> Good advice all around Guy Weller.
>
> How long have
> they used salt for decontamination of
> road surfaces in the UK??? I was bought
> up with this garbage so here it goes back
> to at least '58. Hate this stuff but it does
> get the job done.
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