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(Seattle Times)   Seattle proud of using cheaper, more environmentally friendly sand instead of salt to clear ice-caked streets. If you ignore fact that it doesn't clear streets, it's an excellent solution   (seattletimes.nwsource.com) divider line
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8319 clicks; posted to Main » on 23 Dec 2008 at 3:24 PM (11 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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rocinante721
2008-12-23 1:11:22 PM  
"We decided not to utilize salt because it's not a healthy addition to Puget Sound."

In other news, salt hurts an Oceanic salt water harbor.
 
rocinante721
2008-12-23 1:12:54 PM  
The city's approach means crews clear the roads enough for all-wheel and four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with front-wheel drive cars as long as they are using chains, Wiggins said.

All you tree-hugging Prius owners, however, are farked!
 
EvilElecBlanket
2008-12-23 1:18:54 PM  
Seattle also equips its plows with rubber-edged blades. That minimizes the damage to roads and manhole covers

Yeah, because chains are farking wonderful for the pavement.
 
Walker [TotalFark]
2008-12-23 1:19:28 PM  
This is what happens when you let eco-hippies run a city.
 
cryinoutloud [TotalFark] [BareFark]
2008-12-23 1:22:55 PM  
Yes, that salt is great stuff. For car makers.

[image from thump.net too old to be available]

Did you ever wonder why Michigan uses SO MUCH salt on their roads?
 
DslainteC
2008-12-23 1:27:29 PM  
In Canada we call them, "white roads." Fortunately we're smart enough to use salt on them. If you don't use salt and drive recklessly, you'll end up saline into the ditch.
 
Javacrucian
2008-12-23 1:29:59 PM  
"We decided not to utilize salt because it's not a healthy addition to Puget Sound."

Fark Puget Sound. They should be using it as a dump for the bodies of the city's unwanted. Start with the homeless in Pioneer Square, followed by all the stinking hippies that march in the annual anti-Columbus Day parade, and top it off with anyone who participates in blocking traffic with their bicycle.

/just joking about that last one. People on bikes should actually be impaled on giant iron spikes and displayed as art, maybe near the Spaghetti Factory overlooking the new park. Better yet, they could be propped up somewhere near the food court by the Space Needle, or perhaps lining the monorail route downtown.

/I keed, I keed
 
Angry Drunk Bureaucrat [TotalFark] [BareFark] [OhFark]
2008-12-23 1:40:52 PM  

DslainteC: If you don't use salt and drive recklessly, you'll end up saline into the ditch.


Boo! You are a bad person and should feel bad about yourself.
 
rocinante721
2008-12-23 1:45:43 PM  

DslainteC: If you don't use salt and drive recklessly, you'll end up saline into the ditch.


I sea what you did there
 
alonzinator
2008-12-23 1:48:19 PM  
Ice is for pussies!

seattlest.comView Full Size
 
alonzinator
2008-12-23 1:49:05 PM  
alonzinator: IceSalt is for pussies!

sigh... more coffee
 
LordZorch [TotalFark]
2008-12-23 1:49:26 PM  
Seattle' "City Clowncil" and retarded mayor is about the most worthless, ineffective, and reality-divorced city "government" that I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

By and large, it is little more than a collection of buffoons that ran for office because someone told them it would look good on their resume. Also, there is no far-left cause they don't endorse, and the state and federal constitution appear to be amusing relics to them on a regular basis.

That they are so silly and concerned about salt going into the ocean that they would rather subject over a million people to treacherous road conditions pretty much puts the cap on it.
 
LordZorch [TotalFark]
2008-12-23 1:53:12 PM  

Javacrucian: just joking about that last one. People on bikes should actually be impaled on giant iron spikes and displayed as art, maybe near the Spaghetti Factory overlooking the new park. Better yet, they could be propped up somewhere near the food court by the Space Needle, or perhaps lining the monorail route downtown


Dude, parking at Spaghetti parking is already bad enough, and you want to stink it up with the corpses of bike nazis? Mount the giant spikes along "Freak Street" in Capitol Hill where all the damned hippies and assorted wierdos live....
 
Sinister Steve
2008-12-23 1:59:06 PM  
Not using salt is great to clear roads.......of those evil smog producing, tree killing, fish murdering, bicyclist slaughtering cars.
 
Walker [TotalFark]
2008-12-23 2:06:31 PM  
I love how they say justify this by saying they don't want salt to flow into salt water....but then they say instead of salt they are spraying chemicals all over the roads....which will then flow into the same place they didn't want the salt to go....and cause more harm than the salt.
 
Speedofdarkness
2008-12-23 2:08:45 PM  
Good plan for being environmentally friendly. It takes everyone driving to work two or three time longer because the roads are bad.
 
sloppy shoes
2008-12-23 2:44:26 PM  

cryinoutloud: Yes, that salt is great stuff. For car makers.

Did you ever wonder why Michigan uses SO MUCH salt on their roads?


Because there is a salt mine under Detroit.
 
amanogowa
2008-12-23 3:27:51 PM  
But it seems to be working SOOOO well for them. (new window)
 
jackbooty
2008-12-23 3:29:14 PM  
They use sand all over Cape Cod instead of salt. It sucks as a substitute for salt.

Then summer comes and there is sand all over the roads still, piled up in turns and corners. Great for motorcycles.
 
FeloniousQ
2008-12-23 3:29:22 PM  
Also, if you're a criminal, it's open season - from TFA, all of Seattle's cop cars are RWD.
 
four12
2008-12-23 3:29:38 PM  
"That leaves many drivers, including Seattle police, pretty much on their own until nature does to the snow what the sand can't: melt it. The city's patrol cars are rear-wheel drive. And even with tire chains, officers are avoiding hills and responding on foot"


That's some mighty fine street clearing there, Lou.

/looking out my office window at a Seattle street/slushpit right now
 
ScottMpls
2008-12-23 3:29:40 PM  
"Seattle also equips its plows with rubber-edged blades. That minimizes the damage to roads and manhole covers"

And also allows the blade to skip over the ice and packed snow I'll bet.

Seattle, I loves ya, but sometimes you make Minneapolis seem positively sane.
 
ChadManMn
2008-12-23 3:31:02 PM  
Well, I think they'll be ok for the 10 days this winter that snow is on the streets.
 
SgtArkie
2008-12-23 3:31:12 PM  
hmm, here in the south we use sand, so, it doesnt work up north? Why?
 
Headso
2008-12-23 3:31:35 PM  
The city's patrol cars are rear-wheel drive.

Wow, which megatard purchased all those?
 
amanogowa
2008-12-23 3:32:20 PM  

jackbooty: They use sand all over Cape Cod instead of salt. It sucks as a substitute for salt.

Then summer comes and there is sand all over the roads still, piled up in turns and corners. Great for motorcycles.


That's because it is *not* a substitute.

A hamburger is a substitute for a hot dog. Saying sand is a substitute for salt is like saying a refrigerator is a substitute for an oven. They are completely different, with different goals and uses. Sure they can obtain similar goals in some cases, but they are by no means a substitute for each other.

Sand is used to add traction to a smooth surface, especially when too cold to use salt. Salt is to MELT THE ICE FOR REMOVAL.
 
It_Really_Does_Glisten [TotalFark]
2008-12-23 3:32:38 PM  
amanogowa: But it seems to be working SOOOO well for them. (new window)

While Portland, OR and Seattle, WA are very similar in the sense that they're both large cities in the Pacific Northwest, they are not, in fact, the same place.
 
Marsh Maven
2008-12-23 3:32:48 PM  
They use sand on the road around me. It doesn't seem too bad around here, and while we don't snow all that often, we get more snow than Seattle. Unfortunately the sand then gets piled up along the sides of the road which can create problems for a bicycle riding hippie like me.


/not a hippie
 
DrForrester
2008-12-23 3:33:12 PM  
It snows an inch or more in Seattle maybe every other year, and it never lasts more than couple days, this year being a rare exception. Comparing Seattle to Denver or Chicago is farking stupid.

Salt rusts cars and poisons plants. They just plain don't need it there.

Get over it.
 
hershmire
2008-12-23 3:33:32 PM  
Doesn't it take a lot of fuel to clean up the sand after the thaw? It seems with cars the environment is damned if you do, damned if you don't. Why not just leave the streets unplowed and force people to use the the public transportation system instead?

Oh, right. It's because they're hypocrites.
 
amanogowa
2008-12-23 3:33:37 PM  

SgtArkie: hmm, here in the south we use sand, so, it doesnt work up north? Why?


Question: if it doesn't work down south, what makes you think it would up north?
 
amanogowa
2008-12-23 3:35:25 PM  

It_Really_Does_Glisten: amanogowa: But it seems to be working SOOOO well for them. (new window)

While Portland, OR and Seattle, WA are very similar in the sense that they're both large cities in the Pacific Northwest, they are not, in fact, the same place.


Large cities in the Pacific Northwest, using similar ice-removal strategies put in place by similar eco-nuts.... Close enough for me.
 
Cauchy_Riemann_equations
2008-12-23 3:35:28 PM  

SgtArkie: hmm, here in the south we use sand, so, it doesnt work up north? Why?


I'm guessing in the South it isn't all that cold when it snows so the sand is for more traction and the snow is well on its way to melting.

Here in the chilly north the salt lowers the melting point of the snow so it's more likely to melt at our colder temperatures.
 
darrent83
2008-12-23 3:36:22 PM  
To be fair they are just trying to look good, its likely that the city has no salt to use on the roads. Northwest washington just shuts down when it snows. The official plan is to have 1 plow truck per down that works for half a day and then they let everyone fend for themselves. The only bright spot is I-5 is always ice and snow free no matter how hard its coming down or what the snow fall was the night before. So they can clear roads, they just don't care unless the feds are paying.
 
Cauchy_Riemann_equations
2008-12-23 3:36:45 PM  
I'm curious: how many people has this policy killed?
 
farkingatwork
2008-12-23 3:36:46 PM  

amanogowa: SgtArkie: hmm, here in the south we use sand, so, it doesnt work up north? Why?

Question: if it doesn't work down south, what makes you think it would up north?


Most in the south don't get that "snow" thing in the first place.

Also, seconded on the whole "doesn't work down there, lets do it up here anyway" being a dumb idea.
 
farm machine
2008-12-23 3:36:49 PM  

hershmire: Doesn't it take a lot of fuel to clean up the sand after the thaw? It seems with cars the environment is damned if you do, damned if you don't. Why not just leave the streets unplowed and force people to use the the public transportation system instead?

Oh, right. It's because they're hypocrites.


Aren't buses public transportation? Do they possess some magical quality that we don't know about? You know, the one that permits them to hover over the unplowed streets and finish their route without incident.
 
RogerWeaver
2008-12-23 3:37:07 PM  

LordZorch: Javacrucian: just joking about that last one. People on bikes should actually be impaled on giant iron spikes and displayed as art, maybe near the Spaghetti Factory overlooking the new park. Better yet, they could be propped up somewhere near the food court by the Space Needle, or perhaps lining the monorail route downtown

Dude, parking at Spaghetti parking is already bad enough, and you want to stink it up with the corpses of bike nazis? Mount the giant spikes along "Freak Street" in Capitol Hill where all the damned hippies and assorted wierdos live....


Stay in the suburbs. Stop coming in to the city. All of us here would really appreciate it.
 
TacticTen
2008-12-23 3:37:22 PM  
It seems that is also the brilliant reasoning here in Billings, MT. They don't bother plowing until the snow has been firmly packed into an ice-rink quality road surface, then sprinkle sand on top for traction. It wouldn't be as bad if nearly everyone here didn't think that their truck's 4-wheel-drive meant they could stop on a dime. Boo slippery road tailgaters.
 
LordZorch [TotalFark]
2008-12-23 3:37:29 PM  

It_Really_Does_Glisten: While Portland, OR and Seattle, WA are very similar in the sense that they're both large cities in the Pacific Northwest, they are not, in fact, the same place.


True, nobody in their right mind wants to live in Portland....
 
FeloniousQ
2008-12-23 3:37:36 PM  

amanogowa: SgtArkie: hmm, here in the south we use sand, so, it doesnt work up north? Why?

Question: if it doesn't work down south, what makes you think it would up north?


Correct. Google Raleigh snow 2005 to see what happens when places that aren't used to snow refuse to use salt to get ready for it.
 
BikerRay
2008-12-23 3:37:42 PM  
Manitoba used to just use sand, then switched to a sand/salt mixture. A lot of the time, it's too cold for salt to work, anyway. (below -15F or so)
 
Barakku
2008-12-23 3:38:03 PM  
Good god, someone else does this. Iowa City does it. It doesn't. Do. Anything. Except make driving worse in spring (yeah, it stays that long.)
 
ScottMpls
2008-12-23 3:38:04 PM  
Around MSP, they are more likely to use brine and beet juice solutions on many roads than plain road salt or some other hard mineral compound. Then again, snow clearing here is an art form.
 
Xlr8urfark
2008-12-23 3:38:28 PM  

amanogowa: SgtArkie: hmm, here in the south we use sand, so, it doesnt work up north? Why?

Question: if it doesn't work down south, what makes you think it would up north?

that's what she said
 
asmodeus224
2008-12-23 3:38:31 PM  
I don't use salt on my sidewalk either...wrecks the cement and hurts dog's paws. I use sand and clay...makes the ground walkable...meh

If you live in a city that gets a lot of snow, maybe you should look into chains for your tires. But hey, that is just my common sense talking there....y'all continue biatching.
 
hershmire
2008-12-23 3:38:33 PM  

farm machine: hershmire: Doesn't it take a lot of fuel to clean up the sand after the thaw? It seems with cars the environment is damned if you do, damned if you don't. Why not just leave the streets unplowed and force people to use the the public transportation system instead?

Oh, right. It's because they're hypocrites.

Aren't buses public transportation? Do they possess some magical quality that we don't know about? You know, the one that permits them to hover over the unplowed streets and finish their route without incident.


I see you also subscribe to Hover-Bus monthly.
 
Gosling
2008-12-23 3:38:50 PM  
Up here in Wisconsin we only went to sand last year after we ran out of salt.

Then we ran out of sand too.

It was not a fun winter.
 
cherryl taggart [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2008-12-23 3:39:09 PM  
Damn global warming. At least around here, the tornadoes are short, deadly, and completely unexpected (like my sex life). But, I will still take my chances rather than live where snow happens too often.
 
Crudbucket
2008-12-23 3:39:12 PM  

LordZorch: Seattle' "City Clowncil" and retarded mayor is about the most worthless, ineffective, and reality-divorced city "government" that I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing.


The city council of Berkeley frowns upon you.

imgs.sfgate.comView Full Size
 
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