Gritting

[Maxsymuppet]

Or rather NOT gritting. In the Wolverhampton/Walsall areas I haven't seen so much as a grain of road salt during the current snowy spell. Both councils have told us they have X number of tons of road salt in stock. In which case what are they doing with it? They certainly aren't putting it on the roads. OK I can understand minor roads not being gritted but major roads? Not even the motorways have been touched.
I had to wait till the traffic itself had cleared the snow (tuesday) till I could ride without bricking it every inch of the way. Instead going to work by bus (an hour plus as opposed to 20-25 mins on the scoot.)
What's it been like in your area? Okay, council spending cutbacks and all that but what could be more important than keeping our roads reasonably clear and more important safe?

[Bluebottle]

I think the road must have been gritted if the traffic cleared the snow.

Without salt traffic compacts the snow. With salt the traffic mixes the salt and snow. Without traffic the snow can settle over the salt because there is no salt in the water crystals the snow is made of.

Also, salt doesn't stop freezing happening. It only lower the freezing point to about -10 or even -7

Boring science bit:
The salt has to mix with water to lower it's melting point
The water in snow is locked in crystal where the salt cannot get at it. If the road and/or salt is warm it will melt the snow and the salt/water will mix making it harder for the water to re-freeze. The mechanical action of traffic will help the mixing.

Melting point is not only governed by the salt but also pressure - higher pressure = lower melting point
If it is cold enough for the snow to build up the pressure from tyres will unfreeze some of the water. Without salt this will refreeze with a different crystal structure that we call ice.
If salt is present it will mix with the water, helped by the movement of tyres and Bobs your scout master.

[MrGrumpy]

And in that very cold winter a couple of years ago, it got so cold at night (-10C) that the grit actually stopped having any effect!
Things have been pretty good up this way - gritted roads quite clear. And our carpark gets gritted so much its like riding over a beach!

[Deleted User 796]

Well the council here have done a great job which is good considering the amount of money they want in tax every year.

[Maxsymuppet]

Maybe the salt cleared the snow with the help of the traffic, but I still haven't seen that tell-tale sign that a gritter has been there. A line of road grit along each side of the road at the very edge. What is more, it was a few days before the roads were even vaguely snow-free, which along with the lack of salt indicates to me that the traffic gradually compressed the snow till there was so little left it just melted. Certainly this is what happened in the cul-de-sac I live in, which obviously has not been gritted but has two narrow snow-free tracks where the cars have driven over it. Also there are still patches of ice on main roads and the odd bit of snow remaining in the middle of the road where the cars can't clear it.

[Mr Angry]

Our council have been excellent

When I was working for them I had a word with the chap in charge of Winter maintenance and asked him to include our road on the schedule as there were several council employees living on it + an old peoples home, is still gritted as part of the schedule.

[Bluebottle]

.....it was a few days before the roads were even vaguely snow-free.......

I apologise, I thought you meant that Tuesdays snow was cleared by traffic on Tuesday.
I see what you mean now.

[victor]

perhaps Britain should use the same vehicles as the Germans unimoggs they grit and get rid of snow at 50 MPH 3 unimoggs at a time running down the autobahnns
these vehicles are expensive but can be used in any role and built to last

[KEEFYBEE]

Its not been too bad wintry weather wise...till about 4 today, since then we've had 7 hours solid snow/sleet. I spent over 2 hours riding home this afternoon in virtual blizzard conditions. Blackburn with Darwen Council are normally ok when it comes to gritting. Just had 2 gritter/plough wagons come past my house ( I live on the A666) one after the other and frankly and dont know why theyre bothering till the snow stops. The only thing you have to worry about is not so much your own riding in this nasty weather, its the car drivers frankly not giving a shit, and not driving 'to the condtions'.

[mottza]

We were lucky. The forecasted snow came as rain in the end. It's a balmy 6C here with blue skies.

Might get the BBQ out tmrw as its going to be 10C!