Winter Highway Operations (2005)

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21 Some traditional winter operation strategies are no longer practical owing to environmental constraints. Sixteen of the responding agencies reported investigating environmental impacts related to winter operation activities. Most agencies are making efforts to minimize those impacts through more restrictive use of the impacting strategies, clean-up practices after an individual storm or the winter season concludes, and better containment of materials. A practice that contributes to adverse environmental impacts is the use of deicing abrasives, including sand. Under the action of traffic much of the sand applied to the road- way is ground into very fine particles and then, as it dries, it becomes airborne. This can result in PM-10 air quality nonattainments for many areas. In addition, these particles can generate silting issues associated with nearby bodies of water. Some agencies have responded to these issues by lim- iting the use of sand and by recovering it, and, like Edmonton, occasionally recycling it. Oregon makes a concerted effort to recover abrasives in stream-sensitive areas at the end of each winter season. Nevada sweeps where they experience non- attainment problems. One of the winter operation activities that can affect the environment is the use of road salt and other chemicals. As shown in Table 4, many states apply chemicals to the road- way to prevent bonding between ice or snow and the pave- ment surface. These chemicals can have significant impacts by polluting storm water runoff and infiltrating other bodies of water. In November 2001, Environment Canada concluded that “road salts that contain inorganic chloride salts with or without ferrocyanide salts are ‘toxic’ as defined in Section 64 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999” and mandated salt management practices (“Assessment Report— Road Salts” 2003). This has driven substantial efforts in developing such management practices. The runoff pollution problem occurs at both the roadway, where chemicals are applied, and in association with storage of materials, primarily road salt stockpiles. In general, adop- tion of salt management practices and increased attention to associated environmental impacts of chemical treatments are increasingly important. Many agencies have made modifica- tions to their road salt storage practices by covering stock- piles and capturing runoff. Stockpiles are being protected through a variety of methods including construction of struc- tures designed specifically to house and protect road salt and the use of spray-on stockpile applications that waterproof the stockpile itself. An example is the PNSA’s earlier-mentioned anti-icing chemical specifications that emphasize safety, environmen- tal preservation, infrastructure protection, cost-effectiveness, and performance. In Montana, response to winter storms does not begin until maintenance managers are certain that snow or ice will occur. This approach was implemented in response to public pressure to use road chemicals conservatively out of concern for the environment and for their vehicles. In Ore- gon, where the public has also emphasized the concern for these impacts, ODOT has implemented best management practices that address all aspects of routine road mainte- nance, including winter operation activities. CHAPTER FOUR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY