
Why Is Snowplowing Still a Thing? – Motherboard - rbanffy
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qvw7kd/why-is-snowplowing-still-a-thing-heated-pavement-holland-reykjavik?utm_source=mbtwitter
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CogitoCogito
The Motherboard article has this written:

> Check out this paper from researchers at Iowa State University for a deep
> dive into the CO2 footprint of heated pavement versus traditional snow
> removal. Spoiler: Heated pavement is better, even when heating systems are
> powered by coal.

This got me curious given how counter-intuitive it seemed. I opened the paper
itself (
[https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&...](https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=ccee_conf)
) and did a string search of "maintenance" and found this gem:

> METHODOLOGY AND DATA SOURCE This study only considers the operation phases
> of both traditional and heated pavement snow removal systems, which means
> that construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation phases are not included
> in the system boundaries

So basically they ignore the costs in building and then maintaining the
system. Also the paper seems to be highly focused on airports. Presumably this
simplifies the problem greatly.

Regardless the author of the article seems to have found the title of a paper
and then whipped up an article without every really thinking about things.

Ignoring all that, it is of course true that salt is very damaging to both
infrastructure and the environment. Personally I really like how Sweden does
it (at least Stockholm and other relatively dense areas) and just throws
gravel on top of the snow. I've heard people complain, but I personally love
it. It's like having crampons on the ground so you don't have to put them on
your shoes. I run outside most of the winter and rarely wear spikes.

~~~
neaden
I've seen sand used in the upper Midwest, I'm not sure how often it's used in
other parts of the country. My understanding is that it's better than salt
once the temperature gets cold enough and the salt can't help melt things.

~~~
slededit
Regions around Toronto will switch depending on the weather.

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jason_slack
This article isn't that great. The idea of heated surfaces is not a new one.
However, it doesn't exist widespread because it is not practical at all.

I live in an area of NY where it is not unheard of to get a foot of snow every
few hours for several hours. You can wake up with 4ft on the ground. No heated
surfaces is ever going to take care of this amount of snow.

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lolsal
I do not live in a region with lots of snow or ice. Would there be any concern
about melting the closest 'layer' of snow over pavement and creating a snow
'shell' over the road? If an area is getting sufficient ice precipitation I
wonder if such a system could keep up and what the dangers would be of a road
that was not salted/sanded in this condition.

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lolsal
End of the article:

> Sounds good to us. BRB moving to Holland.

Journalism sure has changed a lot in my time. It's fascinating.

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arcaster
Not that I expect anyone at VICE to understand basic physics let alone
thermodynamics, but the amount of energy and labor necessary to heat all city
streets would surely surpass $1B anywhere in the U.S. ...

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grawprog
I don't know about other cities in North America but heated sidewalks would
work only for a very small area in the city I live in and is covered by at
provincial, federal and each municipalities jurisdiction. The entire are that
would need to be done to stop snow ploughs being needed is almost 100 square
kilometers. Most of the city is laid out in a fairly spread out way almost
entirely the opposite of the European cities and small American towns used in
the example. The cost to implement a heated road and sidewalk system here
would be ridiculous and the city already seems to leave their roads more
unmaintained than they should anyway.

I just don't see such a system of water heated roads being feasible in North
America not the the parts of it I've seen have been designed, without
drastically rebuilding most cities.

Not to mention we get a lot of snow and already have flooding problems in the
city when there's heavy rain or big snow melts. This just changes things to a
different problem.

