WYDOT uses many tools to fight ice and snow

Rock Springs– While local residents are hoping for some of Wyoming’s best weather this winter season, Wyoming Department of Transportation officials are preparing for some of its worst. WYDOT continues to do its best to protect motorists on Wyoming’s highways.

To operate snow plows and snow blowers, WYDOT always attempts to add to its winter staff. Every season, temporary operators join WYDOT crews to supplement permanent maintenance teams.

Winter Maintenance Tool Kit

In addition to manpower and plowing, WYDOT utilizes different chemical mixtures and the traditional sand/salt mix to maintain safe road conditions. WYDOT uses several mixtures on Wyoming roads–both before and after snow storms– such as salt sand, salt brine, magnesium chloride and ice slicer. These mixtures are stockpiled at WYDOT’s maintenance stations in preparation for winter.

When snowfall can be predicted, some of these chemicals are applied to roads before the storm to help keep snowpack from accumulating, and to assist with the removal of snow after the storm.

“We try and prevent the snowpack from forming, but we can’t always do that. However, it does help with the removal of the snowpack afterward,” Eddins said.

Others are used continuously, to help alleviate snowpack and icy conditions.

“We do what is called ‘pre-wetting.’ This is where we use a salt sand mixture that has been pre-wet with a chemical, usually magnesium chloride. This helps the sand stick to the road more,” Eddins explained.

Wyoming’s notorious winters are marked by some of the most severe durations of snowfall, freezing rain and blowing snow. With a high rate of snowfall and some of the worst blowing snow conditions in the United States, WYDOT has to reach deep into its tool bag to maintain safer roads and prevent icy conditions.

Salt, or sodium chloride, is the most common and cheapest tool across the nation for fighting ice. However, Wyoming’s brutal temperatures and whipping winds can sometimes render salt inadequate, putting Wyoming motorists at risk of hitting ice rinks without a pair of skates.

Salt does have an important place in ice removal. Using salt on roads lowers the temperature at which ice will melt, preventing the formation of ice at lower temperatures. However, when temperatures drop below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, salt becomes ineffective.

During winter, pavement freezes, forming a bond with ice and snow. Eliminating that bond helps WYDOT maintenance crews plow off excess moisture, clearing roads faster and providing safer conditions. However, in the past, freezing temperatures have thwarted salts ability to melt the ice off roads, causing crews to spend weeks chipping up ice with plows to clear roadways.

Nowadays, public works departments and transportation departments, as well as WYDOT, are taking a more proactive approach to address Wyoming’s notorious dipping temperatures and brutal wind chill.

WYDOT has also added GeoMelt to its tool kit, also known as beet juice. Recently, many motorists have seen WYDOT maintenance vehicles out on highways before storms hit, spraying a sticky, red solution on the pavement. This solution is 60 percent salt brine, and 40 percent beet juice, which gives it the red color. Crews are taking preventative action with pre-wetting.

“This is where we use a salt sand mixture that has been pre-wet with a chemical, usually magnesium chloride. This helps the sand stick to the road more,” District Engineer John Eddins said.

How does it work? Spraying the beet mixture down before a storm essentially stops the ice and snow from bonding to the pavement during the storm, allowing crews to plow off the excess moisture easier and quicker, clearing roads faster. Pre-wetting assists in providing safer conditions for drivers during the storm, as well. This also helps crews by decreasing the amount of hours that crews have to spend chipping ice off the interstate.

“We have seen a big difference with the beet juice mix. You don’t have that ice pack on the roads for weeks; our guys can clear it up the next day when the sun comes up,” District Maintenance Engineer Tory Thomas said.

Supplementing beet juice mixtures in the battle against icy road conditions allows ice and snow to melt at lower temperatures while providing a preventative coating that lasts longer, giving crews a chance to get more snow and ice off the roads faster.

“We try and prevent the snowpack from forming, but we can’t always do that. However, it does help with the removal of the snowpack afterward,” Eddins said.

Others combinations of salt brine and sand are used continuously, to help alleviate snowpack and icy conditions.

Snow Plan Priority

When winter storms persist, WYDOT relies on their plan of attack. With limited resources, priorities must be made.

A snow removal plan goes into action, creating a prioritized list of routes based on traffic counts. This plan is divided into four levels: High volume, medium volume, low volume and closed. The snow plan is available on the WYDOT website at, https://www.dot.state.wy.us/wydot/travel/winter/snow_plow_priority_plan.

High volume roads plowed up to 24 hours a day consist of interstates and principal urban routes, such as Interstate 80.

Medium volume routes are plowed to keep them passable and reasonably safe and are a secondary priority to high volume routes.

Low volume routes are only serviced after high volume and medium volume roads have been cleared, and are only plowed during daylight hours.

Closed refer to seasonally closed roads, where the cost of keeping them clear outweighs their use.

However, exceptions to the plan are made for school bus routes, which are plowed twice a day regardless of their priority.

The Department of Transportation would like to remind all drivers to obey all advisories and closures, lower your speed in adverse weather conditions and always buckle your seatbelt.

WYDOT also encourages residents and travelers to access road and travel information through their Website, https://www.wyoroad.info, for updates and closures.