One of nine new salt sheds, this one in eastern Oregon, as ODOT plans to use salt statewide for the first time.
Overall, the state of Oregon does not get to see an abundance of snowfall in the way other states do in a given year, as the state averages 15 in. of annual snowfall, according to Sperling’s Best Places. “The state DOT has fewer snowplows in the state than Minneapolis has for the city,” Dave Thompson, public affairs program manager at ODOT, told Roads & Bridges. He estimated that ODOT only carries around 250 snowplows for the whole state. “What that means sometimes, is that when we do get hit by a particularly nasty weather pattern with lots of snow, it will take us longer to dig out because we have fewer plows to do it.”
While the mountainous regions of Oregon are usually buried in snow for most of the year, areas west of the Cascade Mountain Range will not see much snow at all, such as the city of Portland, which averages 3 in. per year. However, cities east of the mountains are more likely to experience more blowing snow and icier roads. The Hood River area along I-84 near the mountain range sees 27 in. of snow annually. Coming from the Idaho border and moving west, I-84 sees much icier conditions for the first 200 miles during the colder months, as the region experiences substantial humidity and freezing fog. These conditions make it more burdensome for ODOT winter maintenance workers treating the roads after snowstorms, as new ice tends to form quickly on the road surface even after plowing and deicing. “It’s an interesting weather pattern to fight,” Thompson said. “We can be out there all day with our deicing equipment, and it’s still icy moments after we leave—that reforming ice is a constant battle.”
As of last winter, ODOT began implementing a winter maintenance practice it has traditionally avoided—laying down salt to deice the roads. In the past, the department would apply a magnesium chloride liquid deicer to treat the roads, until more severe winter conditions pushed ODOT to switch to solid salt. According to Thompson, areas of the state experienced below-freezing temperatures for 10 days in a row in the aftermath of a few snowstorms in recent seasons. “That sounds like nothing to many other states, but here with the humidity and the fog, we get ice in those conditions,” Thompson said. “And nobody can drive on ice, so we started using salt in an as-needed manner.”
