Introduction
This training program has been prepared by the Salt Institute. It is intended for – and dedicated to – the thousands of men and women in public works agencies at all levels whose task is providing safe streets and highways during winter storms. Use this training program and associated materials (The Snowfighters Handbook (84 MB, in English; also in French, 13 MB), Snow and Ice Control Check Sheet, Storm Record, Calibration Chart and Snowball Snowfighter PowerPoint presentation) to assure effective winter maintenance and derive its significant benefits. For salt storage questions, our Salt Storage Summary (17 MB in English; also in French, 3 MB). The Salt Institute has other materials available to support snowfighter training and materials for snowfighters to explain what they do to their political superiors; see, for example, our Deicing Salt Facts and fact sheets about the safety benefits of effective winter maintenance (in English and French).
We commend all those agencies committed to best practices of winter maintenance, including using the Sensible Salting approach for snow and ice control. Effective winter maintenance delivers timely and reliable roadway clearing, protecting drivers against the risks of winter snow- and ice-storms, sensitive to public concerns that tax dollars be spent wisely and the environment protected. Sensible Salting emphasizes getting the most from every application of salt while maintaining the safest roads possible in the most economical way and protecting the environment.
Proper spreading of road salt, improved equipment, calibration of spreaders, automatic spreader controls, road weather information systems, adequate covered storage and relocation of some stockpiles have combined to make salting of roads the most effective and safest method for snow and ice control. Salt is a necessary and accepted part of our winter environment to assure safety and mobility for the individual motorists, school buses, commercial vehicles and, especially, ambulances, fire engines and other emergency equipment. Delays in reaching victims or getting them to hospitals often is the critical difference between life and death.
But while providing safety and essential mobility, the modern snowfighter must be concerned as well with safeguarding our environment. Environmental problems concerning use and storage of salt need not exist if there is a balanced approach to use of salt for snow and ice control -- one that demonstrates care for the environment as well as for safety and mobility of people.
Winter maintenance procedures are constantly changing. Current practices will be improved and new techniques perfected. But it is unlikely there will ever be a material as efficient, as inexpensive, as safe or as plentiful as sodium chloride, ordinary salt, for removing ice and snow from roads in winter. Therefore, snowfighters need information on the latest and best procedures and techniques for combating winter storms. This training program will help snowfighters give the public the most effective snow and ice control program possible and, therefore, safe winter roads at the least overall cost.
Winter Maintenance Is Critically Important
Snow and ice control is often the single largest cost item in the maintenance budget for streets and highways. In a recent year, snow removal in 33 snow belt states accounted for 16.2 percent of total maintenance costs and 3.6 percent of all highway expenditures. For this reason, and because of its impact on public safety and essential mobility, snow and ice control deserves special attention from top highway management as well as from those in maintenance at all levels.
With nearly 190 million motor vehicles registered in the U.S., and nearly four million miles of roads and streets, more must be done with the winter maintenance dollar than simply providing traction over ice and snow.
A common standard for snow and ice control on many miles of streets and highways is removal as soon as possible to provide bare pavement. Nearly every state and toll road as well as many cities and counties in the snowbelt have some mileage on a clear pavement program. These facts about our motorized economy show why:
Sensible Salting simply means providing safe pavement by both pre-storm anti-icing treatment to prevent the bond of snow and ice to pavement and by clearing the pavement as soon as possible during storms of all snow and ice which do reach the roadway. Benefits of this high maintenance standard are apparent:
The public is less tolerant of failure in snow and ice control than in any other highway or street department function. A snowstorm affects the entire community-often entire states. Unless a storm is handled capably by maintenance forces, it can upset considerably the daily routines of individuals, adversely affect business and commerce and endanger public safety.
Elements of Effective Snowfighting
Sensible Salting includes several interdependent functions
Summary and conclusion
Snowfighters are not miracle workers. They are dedicated, hardworking human beings who pit their will against the forces of nature. And they usually win!
The real record of accomplishment is not the tons of snow removed or the miles of pavement kept clear or number of streets plowed. The achievement of open highways that allow business, industry and government to function and people to travel safely and without undue delay is the testament of good snowfighting.
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