ANTI-ICING AND DE-ICING: CLEARING THE WAY FOR SAFER ROADS

During the winter of 1999-2000, on roughly 10 mi of Chicago's Skyway, a long, arched bridge on the city's southeast side, city streets officials conducted a side-by-side test of two methods of road clearing. Southbound lanes got the anti-icing treatment; just before each snowfall maintenance workers painted the road surface with an ice-inhibiting liquid. On northbound lanes, conventional deicing techniques were used once each snowfall started. The anti-icing side was considerably easier and less time-consuming to restore to a safe condition. However, deicing is the dominant method in this country. Anti-icing makes it easier to keep the roads clear, because it is easier to plow the snow. That means road crews also log fewer hours after storms, because it is not necessary to use slow road graders to scrape ice from pavement. Anti-icing also cuts down on the amount of salt and sand necessary to maintain road safety; less salt and sand means less pollution. A sidebar discusses different anti-icing and deicing chemicals.

• Record URL:
  http://www.teachamerica.com/accessmanagement.info/pdf/AM98.pdf
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00410721
• Corporate Authors:

  National Safety Council

  1121 Spring Lake Drive
  Itasca, IL  United States  60143
• Authors:
  • Johnson, K
• Publication Date: 2000-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: p. 14-15
• Serial:
  • Traffic Safety (Chicago)
  • Volume: 00
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: National Safety Council
  • ISSN: 0041-0721

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Anti-icing; Cost effectiveness; Deicing; Deicing chemicals; Field tests; Salts; Sand; Snow removal; Snowplows; Winter maintenance
• Geographic Terms: Chicago (Illinois)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Vehicles and Equipment; I62: Winter Maintenance;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00800559
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 5 2000 12:00AM