Road Weather Management Program
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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Title:

Deicing Trials on UK Roads: Performance of Prewetted Salt Spreading and Dry Salt Spreading

Abstract:

The UK Highways Agency and the National Salt Spreading Research Group (NSSRG) commissioned Transportation Research Laboratory (TRL) Limited to evaluate the applicability and costs of introducing prewetted salt on both the motorway and all-purpose trunk road (APTR) network and local road network in England and to verify the claims made by users and salt suppliers about prewetted salting technologies. The project work is in two stages: (1) a report on the use and effectiveness of prewetted salt and the environmental issues, costs, benefits, and safety issues associated with the use of prewetted salt technologies and (2) design, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of comprehensive tests on the research track at TRL and on in-service motorways. Performance trials and road trials have enabled direct comparisons to be made between dry salting techniques and prewetted salting techniques. The trials and the results have enabled the efficiency of the two salt systems to be better understood for both symmetric and asymmetric spreading and the distribution of salt on the carriageway to be quantified for different spreaders and salts.

Source(s):

6th International Symposium on Snow Removal and Ice Control Technology, Transportation Research Circular, No. E-C063

http://trb.org/publications/circulars/ec063.pdf

Date: 2004

Author:

Burtwell

Keywords:


Anti-icing/deicing
Anti-icing/deicing chemicals
Winter maintenance

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