Late last week I advised my younger coworkers that if we got freezing rain as predicted they needed to just stay home and that they would likely be stuck there for a couple of days. No one here knows how to drive on ice but think their lifted 4x4 truck with bald all weather tires will give them the edge they need. The cities, parishes, and state don’t have the resources to deal with it either.
One of them (from Alaska) decided to take a 2.5 hour trip to buy a jetski after work on Friday. They’re almost home after leaving Saturday morning to get home.
The infrastructure is huge. I drive for Uber during the big ice storm in Texas several years ago around the airports, and every northerner I had in my car commented on how the roads seemed substantially more dangerous than they ever felt in their home states, because of the inadequate plows or salt trucks.
If might be talking out of my ass, but I vaguely remember there being something about road asphalt compositions being different- using more oil in the binder up north, to keep the freeze/ thaw from destroying the road, which also preventings the water from soaking i to it as deeply, making ice accumulate less, (more melted snow runs off the road instead of staying on the surface, and being less slick and adhered into the road.
The payoff being the extra binder makes roads breakdown faster, not to mention having them melt and become malleable under car tires if it gets too hot.
Late last week I advised my younger coworkers that if we got freezing rain as predicted they needed to just stay home and that they would likely be stuck there for a couple of days. No one here knows how to drive on ice but think their lifted 4x4 truck with bald all weather tires will give them the edge they need. The cities, parishes, and state don’t have the resources to deal with it either.
One of them (from Alaska) decided to take a 2.5 hour trip to buy a jetski after work on Friday. They’re almost home after leaving Saturday morning to get home.
It’s half cause people aren’t used to it, and half cause there’s no infrastructure to keep the roads clear.
The infrastructure is huge. I drive for Uber during the big ice storm in Texas several years ago around the airports, and every northerner I had in my car commented on how the roads seemed substantially more dangerous than they ever felt in their home states, because of the inadequate plows or salt trucks.
If might be talking out of my ass, but I vaguely remember there being something about road asphalt compositions being different- using more oil in the binder up north, to keep the freeze/ thaw from destroying the road, which also preventings the water from soaking i to it as deeply, making ice accumulate less, (more melted snow runs off the road instead of staying on the surface, and being less slick and adhered into the road.
The payoff being the extra binder makes roads breakdown faster, not to mention having them melt and become malleable under car tires if it gets too hot.