• AlternatePersonMan@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I often wonder how much money Northern states would save on roads if it weren’t for the extreme temperature swings.

    Regularly hit highs over 100 in the summer, lows below -30 in the winter. That’s an awful lot of compression and expansion. Not to mention the abuse of heavy plows and their blades catching upheaved concrete.

    • BeanGoblin@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      11 months ago

      Should also mention the just, massive amount of salt dumped on them every year. Salt just ruins everything it touches.

      • tenacious_mucus@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        I lived in North Dakota for almost 5 years, they dont use salt. Just a sand/dirt mix. Things get really nasty in the spring/early summer when it all starts melting. They were trying out a weird chemical mix when we moved away, i want to say some glycol something or other? It was actually pretty slimy but way better than ice.

      • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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        11 months ago

        Many places have switched to a brine which uses a waste byproduct from cheese production. This greatly reduces how much salt is thrown onto the roads and also makes use of literal waste

        Edit: looks like there’s a few different mixtures but here’s the cheese brine from Wisconsin

      • Tenderloins@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        When it gets that cold salt is useless, so thankfully we see much less of it throughout the winter. Sand is used instead. -20C and salt sort of stops working.

    • ChillPenguin@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s wonder our roads look like they were shelled once spring rolls around. Last year was particularly bad, I don’t think the roads were in decent shape until the end of the summer. At least near Minneapolis.