Depending on weather, driving could become more treacherous
If the winter weather continues at its current pace, drivers in the area and throughout the state can expect travel to become a bit more treacherous in the coming month.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation on Wednesday issued revised guidelines for salt use to help ensure the limited supply lasts the remainder of the winter.
To accomplish that, however, the DOT is asking county highway departments to cut back on the use of salt on roads other than interstate highways.
“This winter has been particularly tough on plow operators and equipment, salt supplies and highway pavements,” said Todd Matheson with DOT’s Bureau of Highway Maintenance. “Due to the extreme winter weather, the department is proactively taking a number of steps to extend salt supplies while keeping highways safe and open for travel.”
The DOT contracts with county highway departments to provide routine maintenance services such as plowing and salting along the State Highway System. The revised guidelines from DOT to counties aimed at extending salt supplies include:
• No changes to the level of service on Interstate highways.
• Counties will reduce salt application rates on non-Interstate routes.
• Increased emphasis on plowing and pre-wetting salt before it’s applied to roadways. Pre-wetting helps salt adhere to roads and reduces overall salt use.
• Allowing counties to use sand-salt mixes on lower volume roadways.
Average salt use on the State Highway System is about 500,000 tons per year. At the beginning of this season, 775,000 tons of salt were available and about 135,000 tons remain, according to a DOT press release.
“A lot depends on Mother Nature, but implementing these conservation measures now and continuing to monitor salt inventories weekly will help ensure we’ll have an adequate supply for the rest of this winter season,” Matheson said.
Along with impacting plowing and salting activities, DOT officials said this bitterly cold and snowy winter means motorists also need to be especially alert for potholes. The extreme cold has resulted in frost depths of five feet or more in many areas, causing a variety of problems including pavement tenting or heaving.
“Once temperatures finally warm up, most of the tenting should level off, but it will still result in pavement cracking, and every crack is a potential pothole waiting to happen,” Matheson said.
Potholes form when moisture enters cracks in pavement and the water freezes and expands. Warmer temperatures and traffic can then loosen the pavement causing pieces to break free. Compared to an average winter, this season has seen a 60 percent increase in the number of winter storm events. As moisture from repeated snowfalls melts, enters pavement cracks and freezes, it creates the perfect conditions for potholes.
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