is Coeur d' Alene area still salting roads?

[Cnynrat]

Originally Posted by redwood66

All state and federal highways in Idaho are sprayed with a salt brine solution.

As I suspected, which is why I noted above that US95 is treated differently than the roads maintained by Bonner County.

Dave

[Rocko9999]

Is anyone doing Fluid Film or similar on their undercarriage? Is it needed?

[nowhereman427]

In Boise, ID aren't they using a type of solution for snow that does not rot out the bottom of motor vehicles?

[Mister Torgue]

Originally Posted by Rocko9999

Is anyone doing Fluid Film or similar on their undercarriage? Is it needed?

I'm having Selkirk Offroad coat my overlander on Monday. They use another product than fluid film but it's essentially the same.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by nowhereman427

In Boise, ID aren't they using a type of solution for snow that does not rot out the bottom of motor vehicles?

The stuff you're thinking about is actually dry commercial fertilizer pellets. it melts ice like salt, but doesn't damage the pavement as much as salt does.

And the paving is why it's used. The stuff will rust steel about as fast as diluted salt will. Pavement costs the city a lot of money, but it is up to the owners to protect their cars from rust.

A cheaper way to protect a car is to take to to a car wash once in a while during the winter and hit the underside with the wash wand. And really hit the wheel wells with the wash too. The wheel wells are always the first and worst spots where the rusting starts.

Up in British Columbia, there are totally enclosed wand style car washes that are open all winter. Drive in with a frozen car and drive out with a clean, warm one. I always thought such a carwash would do very big business in Idaho, where winters are as cold as last as long.

[nowhereman427]

Yes that's it.
Too bad they don't use this throughout the whole State of Idaho.
Great idea as it always good to wash underside of vehicle in these snowbound states.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

When I moved to Idaho in '94, most road treatment was primarily simple, fine gravel. Worked fine, provided extra traction and didn't harm vehicles or infrastructure. You could commonly see cars and trucks from the 60s and 70s that were still "daily drivers" and free of rust. I was amazed to see that. I was born and raised in Western NY (a birth defect) and cars just 5 years old frequently had rust holes through the fenders, rocker panels and quarter panels. Undercoating was common, but a lot of us that lived in the country sprayed the underside of our rigs and inside the door panels with old motor oil, from an insecticide sprayer (sometimes thinned a bit with diesel to spray).

My understanding is that the EPA shut down the use of gravel for traction-supposedly it put extra dust in the air when the roads dried out. Leading to the eventual use of salt brine. Salt (brine or solid) adds not just to the destruction of vehicles, but highway infrastructure. Many bridges and tunnels in NY, MI and other NE states had corroded so badly they were either condemned outright, or their maximum weight capacity cut. Salt eats the steel in reinforced concrete (as well as degrading the concrete itself).

The other issue with road salt is wildlife. Animals are attracted to salt, it's why salt blocks are so commonly used to attract deer and other wildlife. When it's applied to roadways...where do you think wildlife tends to be attracted to?

[RMESMH]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

When I moved to Idaho in '94, most road treatment was primarily simple, fine gravel. Worked fine, provided extra traction and didn't harm vehicles or infrastructure. You could commonly see cars and trucks from the 60s and 70s that were still "daily drivers" and free of rust. I was amazed to see that. I was born and raised in Western NY (a birth defect) and cars just 5 years old frequently had rust holes through the fenders, rocker panels and quarter panels. Undercoating was common, but a lot of us that lived in the country sprayed the underside of our rigs and inside the door panels with old motor oil, from an insecticide sprayer (sometimes thinned a bit with diesel to spray).

My understanding is that the EPA shut down the use of gravel for traction-supposedly it put extra dust in the air when the roads dried out. Leading to the eventual use of salt brine. Salt (brine or solid) adds not just to the destruction of vehicles, but highway infrastructure. Many bridges and tunnels in NY, MI and other NE states had corroded so badly they were either condemned outright, or their maximum weight capacity cut. Salt eats the steel in reinforced concrete (as well as degrading the concrete itself).

The other issue with road salt is wildlife. Animals are attracted to salt, it's why salt blocks are so commonly used to attract deer and other wildlife. When it's applied to roadways...where do you think wildlife tends to be attracted to?

lol.

[nowhereman427]

What do they use on the roads in Caldwell, Emmett, Nampa,Parma, Fruitland-west side of Idaho, and Pocatello, Twin Falls on the east side of Idaho?

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

When I moved to Idaho in '94, most road treatment was primarily simple, fine gravel. Worked fine, provided extra traction and didn't harm vehicles or infrastructure. You could commonly see cars and trucks from the 60s and 70s that were still "daily drivers" and free of rust. I was amazed to see that. I was born and raised in Western NY (a birth defect) and cars just 5 years old frequently had rust holes through the fenders, rocker panels and quarter panels. Undercoating was common, but a lot of us that lived in the country sprayed the underside of our rigs and inside the door panels with old motor oil, from an insecticide sprayer (sometimes thinned a bit with diesel to spray).

My understanding is that the EPA shut down the use of gravel for traction-supposedly it put extra dust in the air when the roads dried out. Leading to the eventual use of salt brine. Salt (brine or solid) adds not just to the destruction of vehicles, but highway infrastructure. Many bridges and tunnels in NY, MI and other NE states had corroded so badly they were either condemned outright, or their maximum weight capacity cut. Salt eats the steel in reinforced concrete (as well as degrading the concrete itself).

The other issue with road salt is wildlife. Animals are attracted to salt, it's why salt blocks are so commonly used to attract deer and other wildlife. When it's applied to roadways...where do you think wildlife tends to be attracted to?

The head of Bonneville County road and bridge told me they quit sanding the roads because light traffic scoured the sand off very quickly, leaving the icy roads just as slick as they were before they were sanded. A lot of work and expense for very little lasting traction.

As far as I know, gravel was never used at all. Only sand.

The solid salt is the rust culprit. Brine begins to weaken as soon as it begins to melt the hard road ice.
Once the brine softens the ice, the excess water runs off to the gutters taking the brine with it.

I don't know how they did it in NID, but here, only the street intersections, bridges, and the dangerous blind curves were ever treated. The straight sections never got anything except the snow plows, as the sun tended to melt the ice on clear days, except at the intersections, both in town and in the county.

Folks were always driving too fast after the first snowfall, and there was always bumper bashing at the higher-traffic intersections after the road sand ended up in the gutters instead of on the streets.

The solid fertilizer is most used now instead of salt. It melts ice much more aggressively, burning little holes in it, so traffic breaks the rotted ice up. The wildlife is not attracted to it. The stuff is a strong phosphate.