←back to thread

How good are American roads?

(www.construction-physics.com)
193 points chmaynard | 2 comments | 20 Nov 24 14:45 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
kube-system ◴[20 Nov 24 15:42 UTC] No.42194893[source]▶
> Interestingly, I expected cold places to have lower road quality in general due to things like freeze-thaw cycles and the impact of road salting, but there doesn’t seem to be much correlation. Plenty of cold places (North Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota) have good-quality roads

Not sure about those states in particular, but I have anecdotally noticed that some of the places with the harshest winters do some of the least road salting -- because salt is mostly usable for light to moderate snowfall and the people who live in the harshest climates are often better equipped to drive on hard packed snow.

replies(7): >>42194956 #>>42194966 #>>42195113 #>>42195205 #>>42196264 #>>42198270 #>>42200489 #
1. alwayslikethis ◴[20 Nov 24 17:32 UTC] No.42196264[source]▶
The more obvious reason is that colder places do not get as many freeze-thaw cycles. It simply stays frozen for a few months. In contrast, much of the northeast experiences many more freeze-thaw cycles since even in the winter it is warm enough to thaw the ice on some days.
replies(1): >>42197935 #
2. bluGill ◴[20 Nov 24 20:45 UTC] No.42197935[source]▶
Cold places see a lot of freeze-thaw cycles in fall and spring - before and after the hard freeze. I don't know how they compare, but it isn't clear cut.