Ice, wind and sleet is once more battering the UK, and once more we have those tough macho men in their gritting machines ploughing up and down main roads and, occasionally, others too.

The problem with gritting lorries, as has been mentioned on this forum more than once, is that the grit only goes where the vehicle goes. This takes time, and potentially leaves large stretches of road ungritted. Alternatives mooted here largely involve transporting grit on each vehicle, but you want the grit applied before you arrive.

The proposal is to have a network of pipes attached to a reservoir of grit solution and whose outlets are in kerbs by the roadside. The operator, from the warmth of their office, can press a button to initiate gritting by a brief spray of solution from all outlets, thus ensuring that diesel is conserved, all roads (including residential ones) can be done safely in advance and at the same time, and those macho men can stay in the pub drinking their treble whiskies (or whatever it is they drink).

Sure, it might be unnerving to drive down a road where suddenly spray whooshes out at road level, but that's no more unnerving than driving behind a gritting lorry, at night, in the fog... Pedestrians might also have to be careful if they cross the road - but then what are they doing out on such a cold night?
-- PeterSilly, Nov 23 2008

Collective Road Gritting Collective_20road_20gritting
A more efficient dispersal method [csea, Nov 23 2008]

De-Ice Lights De-Ice_20Lights
Shameless self promotion [oneoffdave, Nov 26 2008]

Anti-Freeze http://www.bbc.co.u...uk-england-11799664
Not grit, but anti-freeze, near Dover [PeterSilly, Nov 20 2010]

<waves> hello stranger!
-- po, Nov 23 2008


yoo-hoo, po. Trying to go for quality over quantity :)
-- PeterSilly, Nov 23 2008


Oi! Who sandblasted the paint off the side of my car?
-- phoenix, Nov 23 2008


//network of pipes // Sounds pretty hard to get started. Lots of digging up the roads and power distribution to power the dispersal pumps.See [link] for an alternative, previously // mooted here//.
-- csea, Nov 23 2008


ooo - ooo - dave, like your de-ice lights better. Well shamelessly self-promoted.
-- PeterSilly, Nov 27 2008


...
-- apnea, Nov 27 2008


like tracked-trolley brakes.
-- FlyingToaster, Nov 27 2008


Welcome [PetraSilly].
-- 4whom, Nov 27 2008


are we talking about sand, or gravel? In the states we use sand for ice traction and gravel for compact snow. Both are completely worthless unless the the area has been recently passed with a plow. Buses frequently are equipped to dispense sand in front of the rear wheels. Throwing sand or gravel atop the unplowed snow is worthless and will be plowed away, thus the logic of plows dropping traction material behind them as they plow.
-- WcW, Nov 28 2008


[apnea] - no, I dismissed those ideas, as mentioned in the diatribe. For a start, you'd have to convert all the existing vehicles, then you'd have to ensure all new vehicles had the equipment, then you'd have to ensure that all drivers kept their grit-spray primed, ... Additionally, on busy roads I can just see the grit piling up. Digging up roads is a one-off job and, frankly, a lot more fun for those doing it.

[4whom] - thank you. I've been silent for a few years. May do the same again.

[WcW] - it's been years since we've had more than a dusting of lying snow in the south of England. Admittedly a different solution might have to be found for snow-bound climes. I was thinking of a sand-based solution, although there would have to be something that stops it from clogging up pipework.
-- PeterSilly, Nov 28 2008


so you don't have snow tires? Seems like for mild winter conditions a set of unpinned snow tires is just the trick. For lots of ice the only trick is studs or chains. If ice is the problem then sand mixed with de-icer could be applied simultaneously to good effect. In fact i see a real bakeable application in a municipal truck that applies both simultaneously forming a sandpaper surface as it re-freezes.
-- WcW, Nov 28 2008


Roofing over the entire length of the roadways would probably be cheaper than digging the trenches and burying the apparatus, with the added benefit that the roofing needs no power to operate and would require minimal maintenance.
-- whlanteigne, Jan 08 2013



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