By Frank Hebbert, Associate Planner, GIS
The last few weeks have been a slippery ride here in the tri-state region, from over-hyped "Snowpocalypse" and "Snowmaggedon," to the more mundane reality of flooded crosswalks and slushy streets.
Heavy snow is something of a resilience test for cities. Here in New York City, we do pretty well. No matter how heavy the previous night's fall, the path from my building to the sidewalk has been cheerfully cleared and gritted by the super's husband. Under the ominous snow-laden sky, plow-equipped sanitation vehicles roll lights blazing, and buses keep rolling on their chained wheels. The all-night whale song of plows grinding up the hill outside is exciting, different, yet reassuring. There's something awe-inspiring and dramatic in this city's effective response to snow, even though more mundane services like daily garbage collection tend to fall by the wayside.
Earlier this winter, I enjoyed several weeks of exceptionally wintry weather on the other side of the Atlantic, in my native Great Britain. Right after Christmas, a deep freeze settled over the UK. Snow fell, and then it stayed put. The extent of the snow was dramatically illustrated by a front page satellite photo showing a white island, with darker blobs indicating the cities. As well as breathtaking photos, the front pages also carried a blizzard of snow drama, increasingly shrill and doomy: National grit stocks running low! UK's only two salt mines working around the clock! Chaos! Cold snap to last til April! Table salt manufacturers donating salt for roads! Gas rationing ahead! Government in emergency talks! Grit runs out!
It was certainly very cold and very icy, by British standards. But much of the news coverage was over-excited - gas remained on, trains ran reasonably on time, and major roads were cleared (perhaps thanks to table salt).
But pedestrians got a bum deal. Unlike in American cities, where responsibility for the sidewalk lies with the adjacent property owner, British "pavements" (as we call them across the ocean) are maintained by each city or town's government. And perhaps because such heavy quantities of snow were unusual, local governments were not up to the task, and our pavements were mostly left uncleared. Progress on foot was slow and treacherous - I fell over several times, and saw many others fall.
After several days of slipping and sliding, my appreciation for East Coast snow management strategies began to rise. Where are your bags of Eze-Melt, Sno-B-Gon, snow blowers, and those giant plastic shovels?, I thought. My British neighbors clearly did not have the right tools: the sight of one elderly gentleman bent double, scattering cooking salt and trying to break up ice with the back of an axe sticks in my mind. Why doesn't every home have a bag of salt and grit? Where is the appreciation for chemical de-icer and those magic blue pellets so beloved by building owners? Get out your backhoe, yo. Can't we Englishmen understand that snow can be defeated - if you simply use enough salt, grit, and fossil fuel?
As the ice melted, so did my fantasies of flamethrowing municipal vehicles and aerial drops of blue grit. Nagging fears about the material and energy intensity of snow control started to resurface: What is that blue grit anyway? All that salt can't be good for local water bodies, right? More broadly, are our material and energy costs correctly calibrated, if we consider it proper to use backhoes to clear parking lots, and then drive that ice miles away for off-site dumping?
Recently, I heard about Helsinki's use of small pebbles instead of salt - spread onto the sidewalks and layered up over the winter, they are collected for re-use next year. Stones that get washed into the drains can easily be filtered out and saved. Perhaps this is a model for cities here - the quarrying and transport of tiny stones must be more efficient than one-time use of salt.
I have no firm answers here, just thoughts pushed one way or another by the wintery white stuff falling on both sides of the Atlantic. Whatever the means used, I know I'm grateful for a city that continues to work, even in snowy weather.
@RegionalPlan
What a lovely piece! Have you heard about the snow vaporizers used to clear Times Square?
As the snow threatened New York City, British Airways cancelled the first four of the daily six Heathrow flights into JFK. We were on the fifth, which took off and got as far as Long Island before the runways were closed. A half an hour circling and we were first onto the newly cleared runway. But that was just the start. Try taxiing a Jumbo on ice (hint: how do you stop?). An hour later we reached the terminal. After the usual immigration lines, we came out into deep snow and a taxi line in the open going nowhere. Word had got around that the airport was closed, so no taxis, right? More than an hour in the cold and we reached the head of the line: would have been longer but for the dispatcher (full marks for combining rides with skill and humour). Four hours after landing, we were in our hotel in Manhattan. Wonderful welcome; and next morning everyone getting about their lives in Soho. None of this closing down the National Capitol business here in NYC. Scaling lies of snow and ice, we reached our specialist shopping goals, enjoying cafe life along the way. New York was taking a pride in taking snow in it's stride. We love being among such positive people...
Very enjoyable spotlight, Frank- up here in Orange County, where a state of emergency immersed us with widespread power outages, countless motor vehicle accidents and, in many instances, supply shortages - the collaboration of municipal, county, state, and even federal stakeholders resembled a valiant effort to prevail through the storm. Following the storm, and although the residual damages remained, the roads were cleared and slowly but surely the residents of Orange County resumed to a sense of normalcy.
In regard to the environmental costs associated with the storm consumed the landscape. Downed trees and surging rivers were among the most apparent of these damages, however as you've pointed out the detriment of using salt on impervious surfaces continues to a tool
*(Forgive my Blackberry hiccup)... continues to result in numerous ecological costs. As the predominantly rural nature of Orange County influences a dependence on watershed management for potable water sourcing, strategic methods of salt reduction are becoming common concern – particularly within land use planning and public works. A surge in public outreach and education on the matter increasingly aims to spread awareness of the numerous impacts of salt use; similarly, many municipalities are considering the feasibility of restrictive clauses to prohibit salt use within surface water overlay zones as a means of preserving water quality. Following the evolution of these preventative measures surrounding snow mitigation will surely shed light upon the practicality of such tactics in other regions – whether rural, suburban, or the density of New York City.