The Chicago Tribune reports the Windy City is off to its snowiest start in 27 years. Commute times in normally-excellent-snowfighting Chicago lengthened from one hour to five hours. Preparation and training are the keys to executing good winter operations. In Illinois, a study by Global Insight , commissioned by the Salt Institute earlier this year, found that failing to clear roadways costs $350 million every day, including $220 million in lost wages and nearly $100 million in lost retail sales. At Christmas-time, the lost sales could be even higher! The Salt Institute website has more information on winter safety and mobility .
Winter's here. No matter your politics, the Washington Post got this story right. The DC metro area was blanketed with 3-5 inches of snow and salt trucks were hard at work. Although local forecasters didn't call it just right, winter's first snow is a wake-up call that snowfighting, often the largest public works expenditure of snowbelt governments, is off to a strong start. For more information, see our website at http://www.saltinstitute.org/30.html .
Every year we're flooded with calls from areas of the U.S. where winter ice storms inflict unexpected carnage and paralysis by overwhelming unprepared public works agencies. But at least that's the exception in North America. It's one area where Asia is still catching up as this report from Seoul reminds.
