Snow and Ice Control
45
APPENDIX A: ANTI-ICING OPERATIONS GUIDE
Introduction
This appendix is a guide to highway anti-icing operations for maintenance
field personnel. Its purpose is to suggest maintenance actions for preventing the
formation or development of packed and bonded snow or bonded ice during a
variety of winter weather events. It is intended to complement the decision
making and management practices of a systematic anti-icing program so that
roads can be efficiently maintained in the best possible condition.
The guidance is based upon the results of four years of anti-icing field testing
conducted by fifteen State highway agencies and supported by the Strategic
Highway Research Program (SHRP) and the Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA). It has been augmented with practices developed outside the United
States, where necessary, for completeness. The recommendations are subject to
refinement as U.S. highway agencies gain additional experience with anti-icing
operations. Final decisions for their implementation rest with management
personnel.
Guidance for anti-icing operations
Guidance for anti-icing operations is presented in the tables that follow for
six distinctive winter weather events. The six events are as follows:
Light snowstorm (Table A1)
Light snowstorm with period(s) of moderate or heavy snow (Table A2)
Moderate or heavy snowstorm (Table A3)
Frost or black ice (Table A4)
Freezing rain storm (Table A5)
Sleet storm (Table A6)
The tables suggest the appropriate maintenance action to take during an
initial or subsequent (follow-up) anti-icing operation for a given precipitation or
icing event. Each action is defined for a range of pavement temperatures and an
associated temperature trend. For some events the operation is dependent not
only on the pavement temperature and trend, but also upon the pavement surface
or the traffic condition at the time of the action. Most of the maintenance actions
involve the application of a chemical in either a dry solid, liquid, or pre-wetted
solid form. A suggested application rate, or range of rates, is given for each
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