In this most recent storm the good folks in Seattle's government have decided not to use salt and other chemicals on the road because they don't want to have some of it end up in Puget Sound. The result has been impassible streets and police vehicles unable to navigate in certain areas.
My only suggestion is that sometimes the people on the coasts might want to check in with us folks in "fly over country" about how we deal with snow because unlike Seattle, we get a lot of it and know how to handle it. In our neck of the woods, a blue as can be state with a long history of environmentalism and lots of fresh water lakes, we use salt and sand and plow down to the pavement whenever we can. We figured out a long time ago that this was safer and more effective then waiting for the stuff to melt, which in our case means waiting for April, or using snow tires and chains which can, by constant use, beat up the roads. Quality of life is irrelevant if you're stuck in your house for a week or the ambulance crew can't get to you because the city is afraid some salt might get into the salt water.
We may be rubes out here in the middle of the country but at least I could, despite about a foot of snow in the last week or so, drive over to Caribou and get a coffee.
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2 comments:
Father, bless,
This is true. Our roads are a mess.
Christ is Born!
I know that here in Minnesota, where a great deal of money is made from the environment (tourists, anglers, hunters etc.), if road salt really damaged the many lakes around here they would find an alternative. But it doesn't and apparently doesn't bother the vegetation that much either. In fact if we know a storm is coming the trucks will often be out ahead of time putting the stuff down on the road.
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