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How good are American roads?

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193 points chmaynard | 1 comments | 20 Nov 24 14:45 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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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.

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softfalcon ◴[20 Nov 24 15:47 UTC] No.42194966[source]▶
This is somewhat true where I’m at in Canada. In the city, half the people have proper winter tires, the other half “wing it” with whatever they can afford/put-up-with.

Regularly see accidents all winter long from goofs sliding straight across multiple lanes of traffic or going off into the ditch. Only some of us are prepared.

We don’t salt, only drop sand grit and gravel sparingly. Our roads become ice rinks or snow piles for a decent portion of the winter.

Your comment about us being “better equipped” made me chuckle as I spent this morning watching my neighbours play slip-and-slide in the cul-de-sac cause they opted to not put their winter tires on.

As someone who grew up in the mountains, their behaviour is downright dangerous in my opinion.

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kube-system ◴[20 Nov 24 15:50 UTC] No.42194996[source]▶
> opted to not put their winter tires on.

Heh. At least they have them, and/or know what they are. I have been met with "they make tires just for snow?" when talking about snow tires in the US before.

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1. brewdad ◴[20 Nov 24 20:22 UTC] No.42197744[source]▶
Not sure when snow tires became more mainstream but I started driving in Michigan in the late 80s and didn't know a single family that used snow tires. Where I live now snow tires only make sense for those who live in or visit the mountains regularly. The valleys are mostly at or above temps where snow tires wear quickly or become less effective on wet surfaces.