Posted on 11/19/2018 9:25:26 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
JUNEAU, Alaska - The Alaska transportation department is changing how it maintains roads as the state feels the effects of climate change.
Alaska's Energy Desk reports climate change has made it harder and more expensive to keep up. There are issues like freezing rain and damage to roads built on thawing permafrost.
Dan Schacher recalls spending $750,000 more than usual during a long stretch of winter with measureable rainfall.
He says the department is changing its methods, such as using trucks to distribute a watery solution called salt brine that's meant to help with slippery pavement.
The Fairbanks region was the pilot project for the salt brine trucks now also being used in Anchorage. The brine has been in common use in the Lower 48.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktuu.com ...
Weather is like a yo yo...Live with it...
To make driving on these roads safer you use a brine solution that consist of salt solution that LOWERS the temperature at which water freezes.
Where do you suppose this salt solution goes when it runs off of your roads?
Well, I’ll tell you. It runs off the road and in to your permafrost where is THAWS your permafrost! Stop blaming Global Warming for your road damage and start taking responsibility for your stupidity.
I will admit that I am an uneducated white deplorable.
I have spent my whole life working outside. Even though I ain’t no scientist I can tell you that some years are colder than others, some times it rains more than normal, sometimes it gets really hot.
I always used Thanksgiving as the cutoff for getting any digging done. After Thanksgiving the hard freeze can come at any time. This year we have had frozen ground for two weeks already. Last year we didn’t get that until into December.
Therefore, after 45 years of conducting real life experiments I have concluded that the weather, or climate, ALWAYS changes.
And I know this for a fact because only 7500 years ago my land would have been covered with ice a few miles thick but it melted for some weird reason.
I’ve worked year round outside. The only thing constant in the weather is that it’s different every year.
“JUNEAU, Alaska - The Alaska transportation department is changing how it maintains roads as the state feels the effects of climate change.”
Stop the presses...Alaska government learns winter is coming.
Nevada road departments re using this brine. Works quite well, altho I don’t know the salinity of it.
Yes, brine is used in the lower 48. I've seen it in the south, frequently. It works well in a specific range of temps, locally, anything above 20F, IIRC.
Below that? Waste of time. Doesn't work. In AK, where the average temp is "Dammed Cold", I've no idea why they'd use it. I'd imagine that you can increase the salinity to lower the freezing point, but that would defeat the purpose of "not putting so much salt on the roads".
In the northeast, where I grew up and they rarely (if ever) plowed the roads, we used sand. Worked better, gave better grip.
I'd guess that the "journalist" who wrote this rarely ventures out of his mother's garage.
Our town uses some kind of composite now...lowering the salt damage. How old am I....I remember when we used coal ashes on our driveway and sidewalks.
This article is so misleading it is criminal.
Either the author is ignorant as a post or is trying to be manipulative.
Many roads in Alaska are built on permafrost and have always had problems if the surface is dark, especially so.
Brine does not have a damn thing to do with dealing with permafrost. It is simply about reducing the amount of salt used on the roads.
Refuting these fools is nearly impossible they are just so dishonest and ignorant.
>> And I know this for a fact because only 7500 years ago my land would have been covered with ice a few miles thick but it melted for some weird reason. <<
Buffalo and Bison farts
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