Pre-salting the roads?

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

It is dry today and 65. We are getting rain tonight that will be changing to snow in the wee hours. They already salted. There is enough traffic on our rural road that the salt is getting pushed to the center and the roadsides. 

It sounds good in theory, but I think the rain is going to wash off whatever cars don’t blow off. 

Does this sound logical, or a waste of taxpayer dollars and materials?

[Tennesseer]

Mar 11, 2022 18:04:17 GMT -5 Cheesy FL-Vol said:

It is dry today and 65. We are getting rain tonight that will be changing to snow in the wee hours. They already salted. There is enough traffic on our rural road that the salt is getting pushed to the center and the roadsides. 

It sounds good in theory, but I think the rain is going to wash off whatever cars don’t blow off. 

Does this sound logical, or a waste of taxpayer dollars and materials?

The rain will dissolve much of the salt. Some will remain depending how heavy the rain. How much snow are you expecting?

[ken a.k.a OMK]

We pretreat with a liquid brine that dries on the road. Then when it rains/snows it will dissolve and become a melting solution. Apply salt after the snow has started. Might get a dusting to 1" here. 2"-3" over in Washington DC. 

[Tennesseer]

Mar 11, 2022 20:12:47 GMT -5 ken a.k.a OMK said:

We pretreat with a liquid brine that dries on the road. Then when it rains/snows it will dissolve and become a melting solution. Apply salt after the snow has started. Might get a dusting to 1" here. 2"-3" over in Washington DC. 

We already have about two inches here. Should be done snowing in about two hours. But still...

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

We are supposed to get 1-3”. The fluffy stuff hasn’t happened yet.

So the pre-salting is backwoods silliness? I guess we should get used to that now that we live among them.  

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Mar 11, 2022 20:12:47 GMT -5 ken a.k.a OMK said:

We pretreat with a liquid brine that dries on the road. Then when it rains/snows it will dissolve and become a melting solution. Apply salt after the snow has started. Might get a dusting to 1" here. 2"-3" over in Washington DC. 

Same here if they have enough notice.  But then we have enough snow during the year even during these warmer winters that we have invested in the costs of getting the trucks that can do so.

I'm guessing Florida doesn't have too many of those so is relying on old school road treatment.

[daisylu]

Before the snow hits the roads are treated with a brine solution. If it is bad enough and temps are not expected above freezing for several days, they will often come back though with actual salt and cinder.

[toomuchreality]

I hate the way it makes my car look and how hard it is to see out the windows and in the mirrors, when there's so much salt on the roads. Ugh. What a mess!
I hope it really is helping make the roads safer.

[haapai]

According to my BF who works in the county snowplow garage, pre-salting the roads can reduce over-time and applying a brine solution can work well too, depending on how it is sourced. 

But, but, the guy that he spoke to, in a Northern state with plenty of snow and plenty of snow plows, also said that he tried to avoid pre-salting the roads.  The public and his boss much preferred to see plows on the road when it was snowing than pre-salting.  The overtime appears immaterial compared to the appearance of being on top of the situation. 

Things may be very different where there are not enough snow plows and nobody knows how to drive in snow.  In those places, it may make a lot of sense to be seen pre-salting roads that just can't be plowed fast enough to keep up with the snow.  It may not keep the roads safe, but it sorta looks like you were at least trying or at least knew that a lot of snow and ice was coming.