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Winter Road Research Paper

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To make winter roads more acceptable and easy to travel on, the municipal government of a city must apply either a chemical de-icer to melt ice or spread sand to increase traction. In many parts of the world there are brutal snowstorms and blizzards that establish road travel issues into existence. These nasty storms and blizzards would have been abominable without the use of chemical de-icers or sand. Statistically, providing salt or sand on roads covering an entire city can reduce the amount of accidents by 85% during and after a winter blizzard. Many chemicals and sand are very cost-effective, yet they play a key role on the roads and also may have negative environment impacts which a city must take into account. Environment protection is …show more content…

Another benefit is that salt is very cost effective and a very safe de-icer for drivers because it prevents car accident and fatalities. The negative effects of road salt is that it damages the vehicle itself because the water from the snow and ice (precipitation) put the oxygen and carbon dioxide in interaction with the car parts. Additionally, when the free-floating ions in contact with road salt it would increase the formation of iron oxide (Rust). Since Rust is a layer of Iron (III) Oxide which appears when there is an increase exposure to oxygen it would almost double the rusting process because of the salt and the water. Salt may potentially damage traffic infrastructures because salt may also cause corrosion to public roads resulting in high costs to repair. In terms of the environment Salt is very negatively impacted because it damages plants, the nutrients plants’ intake (water), and wildlife because of the fact that when salt comes in contact with water, making it more dense and making water sink to the bottom. This prevents the oxygen molecules in the upper layers from reaching the bottom layers. This separation disrupts wildlife and causes a negative impact to the …show more content…

They are generally used on gravel roads because the chemical de-icers will make the road surface soft and easier to plow. For increased and better traction, it is proven that abrasives with more crushed particles will result in great car improvement. A safety regulation to prevent windshield damage is to use materials with abrasives with a diameter less than 3/8th of a diameter. Statistically, sand and other abrasives are usually places in high hazardous areas such as curves, winding roads, and intersections and it also important to spread them out evenly to prevent tire damage. Sand should be places when there will not be chance it will be blows off or become covered with another sheet of snow. Additionally, heavy and slow moving traffic reduces the effectiveness of the sand and requiring the reapplication of snow. The environmental impact of sand is the possibility of clogging up storm sewers and inlets which can be costly to clean. The abrasives can also wash downstream which can be harmful to the fish

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