MELTING SNOW ON A MOUNTAIN PASS HIGHWAY BY USING COAL DUST

AN EXPERIMENT WAS CONDUCTED IN THE YAKIMA AREA ON WASHINGTON'S CHINOOK PASS TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF COAL DUST ON MELTING SNOW ON THE HIGHWAY. COAL DUST WAS NOT AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE, SO STOKER GRADE COAL WAS PURCHASED AND SPREAD OUT ON A PAVEMENT, CRUSHED AS FINELY AS POSSIBLE BY ROLLING WITH A STEEL-TIRED ROLLER. THE COAL WAS SACKED AND TRANSPORTED TO THE MAINTENANCE STATION. A HELICOPTER SPREAD THE COAL DUST UNDER DIRECTION OF HIGHWAY PERSONNEL. IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE THIN LAYER OF COAL DUST MELTED APPROXIMATELY 4 FEET OF SNOW IN A THREE-WEEK PERIOD. SOME OF THE COAL DUST WAS DESTROYED BY AVALANCHES. IT WAS LEARNED THAT COAL DUST HAS BEEN USED FOR SEVERAL YEARS FOR HASTENING THE MELTING OF LATE WINTER SNOW ON GOLF COURSES IN WENATCHEE AND ON WHEAT FIELDS IN DOUGLAS COUNTY. ANOTHER EXPERIMENT IS PLANNED.

• Record URL:
  • https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrnews/hr-news-29-02.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • No 29, pp 40-41. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Sloane, E
  • Stackhouse, J L
• Publication Date: 1967

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Pagination: pp 40-41
• Serial:
  • Highway Research News
  • Issue Number: 29

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Helicopters; Highway maintenance; Highways; Maintenance personnel; Melting; Snow
• Uncontrolled Terms: Coal dust
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00218408
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Oct 21 1994 12:00AM