MnDOT | Anatomy of a winter storm

When systems determine that it will snow, operations begin to pretreat roads. MnDOT’s Local Road Resource Board guide lists rock salt, magnesium chloride and calcium chloride as anti-icing options to spread over roads before the storm. Salt brine is also a recommended choice for anti-icing. Solid anti-icing materials can bounce off the pavement. The goal isn’t explicitly meant to melt ice and snow, but to make it easy for plows to clear the pavement later.

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Once the snow begins to fall, the snow plows get to work. State DOTs have their own core fleet of snow plows and seasonally contract independent companies to expand their capacity. Minnesota has an automatic vehicle location system to track where their plows are in real time and where they have been. The plows are dispatched based on the road’s importance and condition.

The plows don’t only clear snow and ice. They also lay down more materials to de-ice the road surface. Occasionally, sand is mixed in to increase traction for drivers. I’ve only scratched the surface for winter road maintenance. Admittedly, there are mountains upon mountains of operations manuals and academic research on the topic.