Originally Posted By: Miller88
If everyone were to use winter tires, they wouldn't have to salt the roads.
Perhaps. I'm not sure how much salt helps to dry off the road. As in, if you don't use salt, does the road keep ice and snow on it longer? Usually once the sun comes out the roads melt and get dry in pretty quick order. If you throw down salt it should melt off all the faster I'd think, as the water stays unfrozen for a larger temperature range.
While that does not negate winter tire usage my point is: once the roads transition to wet (and then an end state of dry) road speeds go back to normal. As compared to prior when one has to drive slower. Thus the road can carry more cars per hour thus negating the need more lanes. Thus salt may be a cheaper solution than building roads that can handle the traffic during poor weather conditions. Or at least an attractive proposition to getting traffic back to normal speeds.
[I realize you can drive faster on winter tires. But can you carry on at a typical 75mph on the highway with snow? Can you do typical bumper to bumper stoplight dashes with slush? Or do you still slow down even with proper tires?]
I dunno. Just a thought off the top of my head. Would be nice to not have salt eating away at my cars. OTOH they would still rust even if I didn't oilcoat. So the big gain would be bridges that don't crumble. 'cept they have to be replaced every so often anyhow, like when the road needs expansion.
If everyone were to use winter tires, they wouldn't have to salt the roads.
Perhaps. I'm not sure how much salt helps to dry off the road. As in, if you don't use salt, does the road keep ice and snow on it longer? Usually once the sun comes out the roads melt and get dry in pretty quick order. If you throw down salt it should melt off all the faster I'd think, as the water stays unfrozen for a larger temperature range.
While that does not negate winter tire usage my point is: once the roads transition to wet (and then an end state of dry) road speeds go back to normal. As compared to prior when one has to drive slower. Thus the road can carry more cars per hour thus negating the need more lanes. Thus salt may be a cheaper solution than building roads that can handle the traffic during poor weather conditions. Or at least an attractive proposition to getting traffic back to normal speeds.
[I realize you can drive faster on winter tires. But can you carry on at a typical 75mph on the highway with snow? Can you do typical bumper to bumper stoplight dashes with slush? Or do you still slow down even with proper tires?]
I dunno. Just a thought off the top of my head. Would be nice to not have salt eating away at my cars. OTOH they would still rust even if I didn't oilcoat. So the big gain would be bridges that don't crumble. 'cept they have to be replaced every so often anyhow, like when the road needs expansion.