How Do the New Snow Fences Work?
When blowing or drifting snow piles up on a roadway, it can take winter maintenance crews hours to clear the snow and reopen the road to traffic. And even if the snow doesn't close the road, it can reduce motorist visibility and create unsafe travel conditions.
A properly planned arrangement of snow fences can make winter travel safer by creating a natural storage spot for the snow and preventing it from blowing across the road. The taller the fence, the more effective it is in controlling the snow.
Intercepting blowing snow is far more economical than plowing the snow: research has found that plowing snow costs 100 times more than trapping it with a snow fence.
The new snow fences are designed to be more effective than the wood-slatted structures used in the past. New lightweight plastics allow the construction of fences up to 2.4 m (8 ft) tall. And because they weigh less than traditional wooden fences, the new snow fences are easy to install and remove each winter.
