Driving in the snow; road conditions, commute

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by genmomto5

My brother just told me an hour ago that he was gonna make me do this. Thanks for backing him up. Usually I avoid listening to him. :P

I just came back inside from working on our driveway. Last night we were dusted with maybe three inches.

I drive each car back and forth packing down tracks. Then moved it over four inches and do it again. Eventually I get our entire driveway packed down real good and solid.

It saves my back a lot of pain, and this allows us to continue driving on our driveway at will.

During this process, our cars will slide a bit. It is simply what happens when driving on ice.

I see folks who are afraid to drive on ice, and avoid driving at all costs during foul weather.

To me, well if you are going to let the weather stop you from driving, then you really are not so much in control of your life as you are letting life control you.

Ice does demand our respect, and I do respect it.

But if you are careful, and learn what ice feels like when you are on it, then you do not need to fear ice.

[elston]

Over in Laconia NH I saw pictures of the old roller the city used to use to roll the snowy streets instead of plowing; that must have been in the days of horse drawn sleighs when a hard packed street would have been a great advantage.

[boonelsewhere]

I would preferred packed method over the remove any time, if it works. I was wondering how am i going to remove snow without remove gravels along with it.

I drive each car back and forth packing down tracks. Then moved it over four inches and do it again. Eventually I get our entire driveway packed down real good and solid.

It saves my back a lot of pain, and this allows us to continue driving on our driveway at will.

During this process, our cars will slide a bit. It is simply what happens when driving on ice.

I see folks who are afraid to drive on ice, and avoid driving at all costs during foul weather.

To me, well if you are going to let the weather stop you from driving, then you really are not so much in control of your life as you are letting life control you.

Ice does demand our respect, and I do respect it.

But if you are careful, and learn what ice feels like when you are on it, then you do not need to fear ice.

[ILUVMAINE]

The main thing to remember is drive slow! Pretend there's a egg under the gas pedal! Good Luck!

[Toria]

the disadvantage of packing it is that it becomes a thick layer of ice ....if you have continual snowfall over the winter, you will build up a pretty thick layer.The freeze and thaw and re-freeze cycle in early spring will make it pretty slick - I prefer removal, but that's jmo.
If you have a gravel (or what Maine folks call crushed rock) driveway, you will dig up a lot of it while plowing, so that's a consideration as well....lots of raking in the spring , but using one of those gas-powered brooms makes it easier.

[mollysmiles]

I haven't seen packed snow turn to ice in the winter....at least not in my part of Maine. There are many times we don't shovel the 2", and just drive over it. It hasn't turned to ice in my memory. lol...about the "crushed rock", never heard it called that in Maine unless it was a landscaper

[forest beekeeper]

Yeah my driveway is crushed rock. Our snow thrower throws a lot of loose rock, when ever it gets down through the snow and touches the crushed rock. It really pelts everything. Last winter our teenager was using our snow thrower and he threw rocks at our house and broke a window.

Our driveway is very flat and level, long and straight. When they first finished rolling/packing it, it looked very much like a runway/landing strip. 40 foot wide and 300 foot long.

Most of our land has issues with drainage, everytime it rains in the summer, we have standing water puddles for a week afterwards. So a driveway that is three feet above the surrounding forest is really nice as it keeps you up out of the muck [when the ground is wet].

So long as we have front-wheel drive vehicles, at least we can't fish-tail on the ice.

We do get a bit of slippage. My DW and I have both driven in much colder weather than we have seen in Maine thus far. So a bit of slippage on ice has not been intimidating to us yet.

If a driveway had a slope to it [or was banked] leaning to one side or the other, where you might slide off sideways, I could see a bigger issue. That might intimidate some drivers more so.

If driving on ice does bother someone, then shift to studded tires. I have driven with studs before, they work well. So far we have not seen the need for studs. But they are available.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by molly smiles

I haven't seen packed snow turn to ice in the winter....at least not in my part of Maine. There are many times we don't shovel the 2", and just drive over it. It hasn't turned to ice in my memory. lol...about the "crushed rock", never heard it called that in Maine unless it was a landscaper

Gravel is gravel and usually available graded by size.

What we were offered was 'crusher dust'. The contractor owns four rock quarries. In and among them he has a big stone crusher. They dig rock and crush it into graded sizes for various jobs. In the process of crushing lots of rock, underneath the sifters piles up a lot of 'dust'. The dust is a by-product and they collect huge piles of it. They sale it for much cheaper. 'Crusher dust' packs down very compressed and solid [when using a vibrating roller on it] and makes fairly good road beds.

Gravel is mostly rounded rocks which will refuse to pack tight and often will stay loose on the surface which allows them to be thrown by your tires. A gravel road seems to need more gravel added onto it more often. because of the shape of the rocks and their willingness to be thrown.

'Crusher dust' does not appear to leave the road bed, unless it is picked up and thrown, like what a snow thrower or a power broom does.