Snow Removal Innovations	

•	Herndon, Virginia uses quarry dust instead of sand to treat snow and ice covered roads. The material is collected from two quarries located just outside the town. The quarry dust is darker so it attracts and holds heat better than sand. It is easier to spread since it is more visible, and provides additional traction because the particles are more angular and abrasive than sand. The town uses about 25 to 30 percent less quarry dust than sand. About 35 percent of the material is recovered and reused. Herndon saved about $10 per ton by using quarry dust instead of sand. This material saved the town about $22,000 in 1994.

•	“Snowmelt” is a heating system that runs along downtown Holland,  Michigan’s busiest retail street. The system works by circulating warm water through a grid of piping just below the street and sidewalk surfaces. Water is drawn from Lake Michigan via the public works plant. Installed at a cost of about $1.1 million, Snowmelt was included in a larger streetscape beautification project which warranted the tearing up of streets anyway. It was funded with a large donation from a local philanthropist, matching funds from the city, and a special property tax assessment. It costs between $50,000 and $135,000 to operate each year, depending on how the system is run and the severity of the winter. Benefits of Snowmelt include less damage to streets by snowplows and deicers, less damage to shop floors by deicing chemicals tracked in by customers, and more convenience for downtown shoppers who don’t have to negotiate large piles of snow.

•	Greenville, New York treats snow-covered and icy roads with a blend of magnesium chloride and cane molasses. Better than plain rock salt, the molasses helps the mixture stick to the roadway, which means less scatter and less wasted salt. In the winter of 2000-2001, the town used 900 tons of the product, more than 50 percent less than if it used the previously-used sand/salt mixture. Over all cost savings are due to much reduced driver labor time and fuel use.

•	Boulder, Colorado’s Department of Public Works created a more cost efficient snow and ice removal system by using technologies like a Global Positioning System and a Geographic Information System (GIS). The system tracks the location of snowplows, as well as air/road temperature conditions to a dispatch center so timely decisions can be made about deicing strategies at specific locations. The city’s alternative snow and ice control materials, which are more expensive but also more environmentally sound than traditional salt and sand treatments, are optimized when using the snow removal system. When it is not snow season, the system units are moved to other vehicles to track maintenance information.

•	Residents of Takoma Park, Maryland may petition to have certain blocks designated as sledding streets. To allow for safe neighborhood sledding, sledding streets are not to be plowed or salted in the event of a snowstorm, and are to be barricaded by the city’s Department of Public Works. Once a petition is received, the city sends notice to all residents on the block about its consideration of closing the street. The city administrator may deny the petition request if a resident gives good reason why the block should be cleared. Good reason includes, for example, health, safety, or inconvenience issues for a person with a disability. Residents have ten days to raise concerns before the block is designated a sledding street. Snow emergency or public transit routes may not be sledding streets. Designation expires at the end of the season and petitions must be submitted annually. Somerset, Maryland has a similar ordinance designating one street within the town for sledding and allowing the Mayor to choose the day and to establish specific policies.

•	In the winter of 2001, the City of Bloomington, Minnesota, along with other municipalities in the Twin Cities area, used an average of 19 tons of sand per mile, at a cost of $3 per ton. To avoid clogged sewers and damage to streets, the city decided to recycle the sand. The equipment was purchased for $80,000 and has more than paid for itself. This year 130,000 tons of sand was recovered. The city estimates it would have cost $900,000 to dispose of the sand in a landfill. The equipment has also been used to clean compost and recover granite seal-coat chips.

Source: Examples of Programs for Cities Database, National League of Cities