Snow Removal and Ice Control. Proceedings of a Conference

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Snow Removal and Ice Control. Proceedings of a Conference

Gold, L. W.; Williams, G. P.

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NATIONAL

RESEARCH

COUNCIL

CANADA

Associate Committee on Soil and Snow Mechanics

SNOW REMOVAL

AND ICE CONTROL

Proceedings of a Conference

held in Ottawa, 17-18 February 1964

Sponsored by the Subcommittee on Snow and Ice, NRC Associate Committee on Soil and Snow Mechanics

Technical Memorandum No. 83

Compiled by L. W. Gold and G. P. Williams

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PREFACE

Snow removal and ice control is an important and necessary winter activity

for all transportation systems in Canada. There has been a continuing increase

in the demand and cost for this service in association with economic growth and technological advances in transportation. As one step in a review of the problem, the Snow and Ice Subcommittee of the Associate Committee on Soil and Snow

Mechanics, National Research Council, sponsored a conference in Ottawa,

Febru-ary 17 and 18, 1964, on snow removal and ice control. The conference had three

specific objectives: to determine and discuss the factors primarily responsible

for the cost of snow removal and ice control; to begin to record in a form accessible to all the considerable experience that is already available in Canada on the problem; and, to delineate areas where research and development should be encouraged.

The conference was opened by Dr. B.G. Ballard, President of the National

Research Council. Papers and discussion during the morning of the first day were devoted to weather and snow properties in relation to snow clearing. In the after-noon consideration was given to snow clearing and ice control in urban areas. The sessions on the second day were devoted to snow clearing and ice control on railways, highways and at airports. An ad hoc committee met on the second day to discuss the information presented on winter maintenance in urban areas and prepare recommendations for future action for the consideration of the Associate Committee. The papers, discussions and recommendations presented to the conference are contained in this report.

The Associate Committee on Soil and Snow Mechanics wishes to express its appreciation to the authors of papers, discussors, and all others who participated in the conference; to its Assistant Secretary Miss J. Butler, and to Misses M. A. Gerard, M. Cullen and Mr. R. Armour of the Division of Building Research, N.R.C., for assisting Messrs. Gold and Williams in the preparation of this Technical Memorandum.

Ottawa October 1964

R. F. Legget Chairman

Associate Committee on Soil and Snow Mechanics

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Conference Review.

CONFERENCE REVIEW

by

L. W. GOLD, Chairman, Snow and Ice Subcommittee, ACSSM

The conference had three principal objectives: to begin to define those factors primarily respon-sible for the cost of snow removal and ice control; to begin to record in one place easily accessible to all the considerable experience available on the

problem; and to begin to define areas where

research and development should be encouraged. The following review of the conference has been prepared with regard to these objectives.

Snow removal and ice control is a service that has grown rapidly in the past twenty years because of requirements of a growing economy and the desire to use the automobile under all weather conditions. In the paper by Legget and Williams, it is estimated that there are now about 40,000 miles of urban roads in Canada from which must be removed about 192 x l O" tons of snow each winter; about 270,000 miles of surfaced highways

from which must be removed about 1200 x 1O"

tons; about 60,000 miles of track from which

must be removed about 9 x lO" tons; and

run-ways equivalent to about 2,600 miles of two-lane surfaced highway from which must be re-moved about 8 x 1Oll tons. They estimate that the direct cost of winter maintenance service in Canada is now between sixty to one hundred million dollars per year in public funds. This estimate does not include capital investment, in-terest charges on investment, depreciation or the cost of private snow removal and ice control. Trends indicate that direct costs will double within

ten years. It is apparent that the magnitude and

cost of snow removal and ice control in Canada is sufficient to justify careful consideration of the factors responsible for that cost, and the encour-agement of research and development directed to reducing costs and maximizing efficiency.

It is the weather and associated climate of

Canada, with its variation from one year to the next and from one region to another, that makes winter maintenance necessary. Papers presented to the Conference indicate that the following characteristics of weather have a direct bearing on costs: the number of storms that occur; when they occur; their duration; the amount of snow deposited; time between storms; and the

tem-perature and wind speed during and subsequent

to the storm. The importance of these factors is

generally recognized, and most winter main-tenance organizations have statistics concerning them for their respective regions. It is recognized also that good weather forecasts are necessary for the efficient deployment of men and equipment. Discussion following the paper by McLeod on weather in relation to snow removal and ice con-trol did bring out the fact, however, that most organizations are not aware of the service pro-vided by the Canadian Meteorological Service. One of the recommendations arising from the Conference was that a study be undertaken to define what weather information is required for the purpose of snow removal and ice control, and what can be provided by the Canadian Meteoro-logical Service.

Weather has had an influence on the develop-ment of winter maintenance capability and prac-tices. For example, in temperate areas with medium to heavy total annual snowfall, salt is used extensively in combination with ploughing

for snow removal and ice control. In regions

normally too cold for salt to be effective, salt mixed with abrasives or abrasives only are used for ice control, and greater use appears to be made of graders, particularly in urban areas,

because of their planing ability. Ithas been found

good practice to remove snow as quickly as pos-sible after it falls to reduce the possibility of ice formation by traffic. This in turn has encouraged investment in ploughs and plough attachments rather than blowers for highway snow removal, and established 30 to 40 miles as a practical length of road that can be maintained by a patrol. The paper by Brohm, Cooke and Leslie discusses the influence of weather on highway design. Design has been modified over the years to mini-mize snow accumulation and problems associated

with melting snow. The 1963 Winter

Main-tenance Survey of the Canadian Good Roads Association pointed out that the "self clearing" ability obtained through design is a factor in the reduction that has occurred in the total mileage of highway snow fencing, and probably as well

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in the lower winter maintenance costs for high-ways on the prairies.

The Conference indicated that desired or re-quired standards of snow removal and ice control are an important factor in the development of winter maintenance capability. Automobiles re-quire bare pavement for safe operation at normal speeds, particularly on high traffic density

high-ways. The papers by Greenhalgh and Devitt

emphasize that high speed jet aircraft have made

bare pavement mandatory for runways. Fisher

and Hurley point out that increasing automation in railway operations has created a real need for powerful, dependable all-weather switches, particularly for the large automatic classification yards that have been constructed in recent years. Technological advances such as those associated with these examples demand a higher standard of winter maintenance and may, therefore, result in increased costs.

One of the very difficult problems that face many responsible for snow removal and ice con-trol is to determine an acceptable balance between the standards of winter maintenance required or

desired, and the funds available - a balance that

is often disturbed by the vagaries of weather. The budget for snow removal and ice control is usually established by legislation as part of the annual maintenance budget. The report of the Canadian Good Roads Association indicated that about one-third of the annual maintenance budget for high-ways is used for winter maintenance; for cities it may be as high as 40%. The factors that affect the cost of snow removal and ice control are not defined well enough at present to be used as a basis for establishing and approving budgets. Barrett expressed concern that in many cases where sources of funds are inflexible, a particu-larly bad winter can seriously reduce the money available for normal repair and reconstruction unless the standard of winter maintenance is reduced.

Some organizations have, through experience, established standards or policies with respect to snow removal and ice control that serve as a useful basis for preparing budgets. For example, the Ontario Highway Department maintain bare to center-bare, whenever possible, all surfaced highways with traffic density in excess of 500 vehicles per day; chemicals are used for ice control when justified; high priority is given to roads carrying regular truck traffic and to high speed throughways. Arpin states that publicreaction has'

caused Montreal to specify in winter maintenance contracts that not only will streets and sidewalks be ploughed, but that the snow must be completely removed within 72 hours after the termination of a storm. Most cities and highway departments have a master winter maintenance plan that de-signates the action to be taken under given wea-ther conditions, and the priority and standard of maintenance to be applied to various streets and roads.

In addition to weather and standard of main-tenance, the Conference indicated that availability of storage space for snow, interference due to traffic, and logistics have had an important in-fluence on cost and on the development of equip-ment and practices. At airports there is usually adequate snow storage space adjacent to runways, minimum interference during snow removal and the requirement of rapid clearing. As described in the papers by Caird and Hawkins, this has led to the evolution of highspeed ploughs and plough-blower combination as well as rotary brooms to provide bare pavement. Highways also usually have adequate adjacent storage space and advan-tage can be taken of the snow-throwing character-istics of ploughs as well as of wing attachments for greater lateral displacement. Traffic is, how-ever, a factor, and attention must be given to adequate warning and protecting devices for mo-torists, as described by Brohm, Cooke and Leslie. In cities, traffic and parking are serious inter-ferences to snow removal and ice control, and probably increased costs by more than 20%. Under these conditions it is not possible to take advantage of the high-speed characteristics of ploughs. The session on snow removal in urban areas emphasized that the need to remove snow and the gradual disappearance of suitable dump areas has had a very significant influence on the development of winter maintenance services in cities, and on costs.

One of the facts brought out by the Conference was the lack of information on costs, particularly for specific operations. The estimates of Legget and Williams indicate that costs range from about 2 to 5¢ per ton for snow removal from highways and runways, to over $1.00 per ton for snow removal from city streets. Montreal, with a total of about 900 miles of street, 1,450 miles of side-walk and a daily automobile population of about 400,000 vehicles, has probably the best record of snow removal and ice control costs availablefor a city. Snow is ploughed and removed from streets and sidewalks in Montreal at contract prices of

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about 1.1¢ per lineal foot of street per 60 inches of snowfall or about $9,000.00 per mile per 100 inches of snow. This is equivalent to about 30 to 40¢ per cu.yd., not much different from current bid prices for hauling earth. The total cost of snow clearing in 1963 for Montreal was about $8,950,000.00, equivalent to about $20.00 per automobile or 1 to 2¢ per vehicle mile. Example figures given by the Ontario Department of High-ways were between $340.00 to $5,700.00 per mile for highway snow removal in Ontario, or between 0.05 to 0.87¢ per vehicle mile, depending on weather and traffic density. The Survey of the Canadian Good Roads Association indicated that average cost of winter maintenance for primary highways was about $80.00 per mile on the prairies and about $400.00 per mile for the rest of Canada excluding British Columbia. These figures indicate that the direct cost of snow re-moval and ice control is not out of line with the cost of equivalent soil moving operations, and, on a vehicle mile basis, is probably less than 10% of the cost of driving an automobile.

If a study is to be undertaken on ways of

im-proving the efficiency of a service, and if one of the purposes of the study is to delineate areas requiring research and development, it would appear reasonable that one of the first steps should be to establish current costs. The Conference rec-ognized the lack of detailed information on costs and recommended that consideration be given to the development of suitable systems for classifying accounts and recording costs.

One of the potential uses of a suitable account-ing system would be to check efficiency by com-paring the cost of particular operations with the costs for previous years or for other organizations. The information presented to the Conference in-dicated, however, that careful consideration must be given to weather and terrain when establishing the basis for such comparisons.

It was acknowledged that ice formation

pre-sented one of the most severe winter maintenance problems. Chemicals provide the principal means for combatting ice in those areas where tempera-ture permits. For maximum effectiveness, chemi-cals must be applied to the pavement before the ice forms. Salt consumption for ice control in Canada is now between 800,000 to 1,000,000

tons annually. In 1962-63, 52.5% of the winter

maintenance budget for the Department of High-ways of Ontario, and 44.4% of the budget for the Department of Highways of Quebec, was spent

on the purchase and spreading of chemicals and abrasives. Presently available chemicals cannot be used for controlling ice formation on runways. Caird described a sand bonding technique devel-oped by the R.C.A.F. for ice control that has proved satisfactory for emergency situations.

The Conference recognized the current lack of knowledge in Canada on the use of chemicals.

It recommended that studies be undertaken to

determine the conditions most suitable for the use of various chemicals available, and the rates at which they should be applied for given weather conditions. The possible deleterious effects of chemicals was noted and it was recommended that studies be undertaken on the damage to machines, structures and vegetation attributed to their use.

Itwas recommended as well that studies be

under-taken to find cheap, effective and non-harmful methods of ice control.

Concern was expressed over the high capital investment that is often required to establish an adequate winter maintenance program. Generally, snow removal equipment has a short-term use factor. To reduce capital investment, winter main-tenance capability is often augmented by hiring construction equipment that otherwise would be idle in winter. This sometimes leads to a difficult situation for the first storms of the season, partic-ularly for cities, as construction equipment may still be on summer jobs and therefore not avail-able. Fisher and Hurley noted the need for the development of less expensive attachments for available power units so as to reduce capital investment.

Although considerable experience was pre-sented to the Conference, it was considered that a more extensive record of current practices of snow removal and ice control, particularly in

cities, should be prepared. Itwas recommended as

well that studies be undertaken of ordinances, regulations and bylaws now in effect concerning snow removal and ice control, and that an attempt

bemade to develop model ordinances, regulations

and bylaws. It was recommended that studies should be encouraged on new techniques and equipment for winter maintenance, such as snow-melting systems and the accumulation of weather data required for their design. One potentially fruitful area of study that was delineated during discussion was town-planning and roadway design to minimize future winter maintenance costs.

A large proportion of the annual costs of snow removal and ice control is expended on wages.

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Organization, planning, training and communica-tions are, therefore, important factors in an effi-cient winter maintenance program. The Report on the Winter Roads Survey of the Canadian Good Roads Association suggests that the snow-removal problem at present is not so much one of equip-ment and materials as of personnel manageequip-ment. The Conference was a successful beginning of the definition of the snow removal and ice control problem in Canada. Considerable experience was

recorded, a number of problem areas were de-lineated and a good basis was established from which to consider these problems. The difficulties of providing an adequate standard of winter main-tenance with given funds is not always appre-ciated, particularly by the general public. The contributions presented to the Conference show that those responsible for winter maintenance are quite aware of the problems and are anxious to find more satisfactory and efficient solutions to them.

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SNOW REMOVAL AND ICE CONTROL IN CANADA

WITH

A

NOTE ON SNOW AND ICE RESEARCH

bv

R. F. Legget

Director, Division of Building Research National Research Council

and G. P. Williams

Division of Building Research National Research Council ABSTRACT

Information publicly available on the cost of snow clearing in Canada is analysed. Unit costs, defined as the cost of removing one ton of freshly fallen snow, are estimated for airport runways, highways, and urban streets. The range in total annual costs for removing snow and ice from these transportation routes is also estimated. Snow removal cost trends are studied in relations to ex-panding transportation facilities and a mounting public demand for snow-free public transportation routes. The paper concludes with a short review of past and current snow and ice research activ-ities in Canada.

One of the many popular descriptive names given to Canada, albeit not one of the most ac-curate, isthat first voiced by Rudyard Kipling in a poem seldom quoted, the last lines of which are:

" , The gates are mine to open, As the gates are mine to close, And I abide by my Mother's House '. Said our Lady of the Snows. "

"Our Lady of the Snows"! We all know something of the odd misconceptions that are related to this concept of a snowbound land. Today, however, the poetic title is appropriate. We are met together to consider the mantle of snow that covers this land every winter, and in particular its partial removal to satisfy the needs of man. One can not press too far the imagery of Kipling, for rather obvious reasons, but it is well that we should

RESUME

On analyse les donnees actuellement disponi-bles en ce qui concerne le cout de l'enlevement de la neige au Canada. Le cout unitaire, defini comme etant celui auquel donne lieu l'enlevernent d'une tonne de neige fraichement tombee, est evalue pour les pistes des aeroports, les auto-routes et les rues des villes. On fait egalement une estimation de l'ordre de grandeur des frais annuels d'enlevement de la neige et de la glace sur ces pistes, routes et rues. Les tendances du cofit de l'enlevernent de la neige sont etudiees

a

la lumiere des moyens modernes de transport et des exigences du public qui souhaite de plus en plus avoir des voies de communication sans neige. Pour finir, on passe en revue les travaux de re-cherche effectues sur la neige et sur la glace au Canada.

recognize the beauty suggested by "Our Lady of the Snows" before we get immersed in the mun-dane economics of snow removal and ice control. For it is the financial aspect of snow clearing that has been the main spur to the organization of this meeting. We estimate that Canada will be spending during this winter up to one hundred million dollars of public funds and probably an equal amount from private funds merely for snow removal and ice control on city streets and other transportation routes. This vast amount of money represents a phenomenal increase in expenditure during even so short a period as the last decade. And when this country is found to be spending one hundred million dollars of public money annually on an operation that is directly unpro-ductive, then it is clearly time to stop and take

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TABLE 1 - FACTORS THAT AFFECT SNOW-CLEARING COSTS

FACTOR VARIABLES

----',--,

Climatological Amount of snow, type of snow, duration and spacing of storms,

temperature and wind conditions.

Geographical Area to be cleared (miles of track, runway, road), topography

(ter-rain, facilities for snow storage, distance snow has to be moved).

..- -" ,---_..._--- --'--.-- - - ---_._._---- - - _.._ - - - -

-Traffic Level of service (bare road, runway) intensity of traffic during storm,

effect of parked cars, equipment.

-Legal Emergency regulations, towing of cars, etc.

Efficiency of Operation Organization of men and equipment, use of weather forecasts.

-Methods and Equipment Equipment available, rental charges, methods of clearing (chemical,

thermal, mechanical).

System of Cost Accounting Direct costs - inclusion of depreciation, capital investment, staff

time, etc.

Indirect costs- to assess properly the cost of snow clearing to

a

city, railway, highway or airport, indirect costs such as affect of traffic delays on transportation or business, or corrosion of vehicles, should be included.

a very critical look at the operation in question. It is the purpose of this meeting to take just such a critical look.

The meeting has been organized under the auspices of the National Research Council through its Associate Committee on Soil and Snow Mech-anics. This Committee is charged with keeping under review the research needs of Canada in

relation to all aspects of its terrain. It therefore

operates through active subcommittees on Soil Mechanics, Muskeg, Permafrost, and, naturally, Snow and Ice, this last group being directly responsible for the programme.

Our gathering is therefore a research meeting, the objectives being to see if the expenditures that are necessary for snow clearing and ice control on transportation routes are being as efficiently utilized as they should be, to inquire as to needed research effort in this field and to consider what can and should be done to stimulate such research. The National Research Council is naturally not directly concerned with operations but rather with research. In this area of activity, as the meeting will hear, operations are being efficiently handled by a variety of organizations. Descriptions of oper-ations will provide a useful background to a dis-cussion of research needs; the conclusion of the

meeting will be given over to consideration of research potential.

At the outset, it will be useful to be reminded of the relatively recent development of widespread snow clearing as it is known today, and then to review together the justification of the overall figures already mentioned and their significance. The historical picture can then be completed by brief reference to the development of Canadian snow and ice research work up to the present time. At the time of the first world war, most cities had to leave enough snow on their roads to pro-vide a good surface for sleighs. Ploughing, if any, was usually restricted to the business districts of cities, or to streets used by street railways. By 1930, the increase in automobile traffic made it necessary to plough most city streets, but winter maintenance of highways was still a "compara-tively new problem"." Sleigh traffic was still a factor in rural areas and because of this it was still necessary in many areas to leave four to five inches

of snow on top of paved highways."

1Robbins, C. A. Winter Maintenance of Public

High-ways. The Canadian Engineer, Vol. 63, No. 12, p. 109-110, September 1932.

2Gratton, A. Discussion of Paper "Winter Maintenance

of Ontario Highways".The Canadian Engineer, Vol. 71,

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The importance of organization, preparedness, and communications for the success of a winter maintenance programme came to be generally

recognized at this time."> Abrasives were in

common use by 1936 and in some areas salt was being added to them, primarily to keep them workable in cold weather. At most airports snow was then being compacted with drags or rollers to provide a satisfactory landing surface for air-craft. The first trials with blowers and ploughs for runway snow removal took place at S1. Hubert

Airport, Montreal, in the winter of 1938-39.5

Since the years of the second world war the ability to remove snow and control ice was devel-oped rapidly, particularly at the operational level. It is now possible for Highway Departments to adopt a "bare roads" policy for highways, even in areas of heavy snowfall. The introduction of jets has made "bare pavement" mandatory for runways. Cities are now able to clear all their main streets of snow within hours of a major storm.

Because of the rapid increase in the size and scope of snow and ice control maintenance pro-grammes, there has been little opportunity for those responsible for the programmes to undertake research on techniques or equipment, or' to de-velop records suitable for cost analysis of these winter operations. Because of the lack of suitable cost records, it has proved to be difficult to de-velop even an overall picture of the total current cost of snow removal, but the attempt has been made with the following results.

FACTORS AFFECTING SNOW-CLEARING COSTS

Before considering the results of this analysis, the factors that determine snow clearing costs may be usefully listed. As shown in Table I, several variables affect snow clearing costs, making it difficult to determine the true cost of snow clearing or to compare snow clearing costs be-tween different organizations. Even a comparison of annual costs for the same city can result in misleading information unless annual costs are compared on the same basis.

Most cost reports include only obvious direct costs such as the cost of equipment operation, 3Robbins, C. A. Winter Maintenance of Ontario

High-Way.I'.The Canadian Engineer, Vol. 71, No. 18, p. 7-11,

November 3, 1936.

4Snow Removal is Profitable. The Canadian Engineer.

Vol. 77, No. 16, p. 18-24, October 18, 1938.

5Snow Removal at Canada's Airports. The Canadian

Engineer, Vol. 75, No. 16, p. 15-18, October 17, 1939.

man hours, and the cost of truck rental. Costs, such as depreciation, the time spent by super-vising engineering and maintenance staffs and the interest lost on money invested, are usually not reported. The indirect costs of snow clearing, such as deterioration of pavements and vehicles, are almost never considered.

In general, the information that is publicly available even on direct snow clearing costs in Canada is most unsatisfactory. The results of an analysis, based upon the information that can be assembled must, therefore, be considered as a first approximation only of the current cost of snow clearing in Canada.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

The information on snow clearing costs for

airports was obtained from a paper by Rees G

which tabulated the cost of removing snow in the 1959-60 winter from 43 airports in Canada maintained by the Department of Transport Air Services.

Most of the information on the cost of snow clearing from urban centres was obtained from a survey conducted by Canadian Municipal

Utili-ties in 1961.7 _{Some information on cost of}

snow clearing in Canadian cities in 1949 was obtained from a survey conducted by the Ameri-can Public Works Association."

The main source of information on the cost of snow and ice control on Canadian highways was obtained from a survey conducted by the Cana-dian Good Roads Association and reported in

1956.9 _This _information _was _supplemented

whenever possible by more up-to-date information obtained from various journals.

Some information on the cost of snow removal from Canadian railways was obtained from the Public Finance Transportation Division, Bureau of Statistics, but the published information avail-able on the cost of removing snow from Canadian railways is slight.

6Rees, D. B. Clearing Snow Off Runways at High Speed.

Paper prepared for presentation at the 1961 SAE International Congress and Exposition of Automotive Engineering, January 1961.

7Winter Maintenance of Urban Streets. Canadian

Mu-nicipal Utilities Manual, Vol. 99, No.8, August 1961.

8Report of American Public Works Association.

Com-mittee on Street Cleaning and Snow Removal. Special Reports Nos. 6 and 10, 1949-50.

9Mathieu, O.A. A Review of Current Practice for Snow

and lee Control. Proceedings of Canadian Good Roads

Association, p. 247-259, October 1956.

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COSTS Total Annual Costs

- - -

-Estimated Unit Costs

As a first general comparison, the cost of re-moving one ton of freshly-fallen snow from airport runways, highways, urban roads and railways was estimated. The unit cost of snow removal from airport runways was obtained by estimating the total seasonal snowfall that had to be removed from each airport runway area in the 1959-60 season, and dividing this by the total reported cost of snow removal. For small airports, the cost ranged from 4-12¢/ton; for large airports, the reported cost ranged from 6-36¢/ton.

The cost for removing a ton of snow from various cities in Canada was obtained by multi-plying the estimated area of streets by the seasonal snowfall, and dividing this total by the reported annual cost for each city. The cost for small urban cities ranged from 5-30¢/ton; the cost for large

urban centres ranged from 30¢/ton to over

$l/ton, or from 10-35¢/ cubic yard. Itis of some

interest to note that current Ontario prices for soil excavation are in the range of 35-40¢/ cubic yard.

The range in unit costs for removing snow from highways was obtained by dividing the estimated total snowfall per mile of highway (tons/mile) by the reported cost per mile. Unit costs ranged from 2-36¢/ton.

The estimated range in unit costs are tabulated in Table 2. (As there was insufficient information on the cost of snow clearing from railways, the range in unit cost for railways is not presented.) For comparison, the cost of melting a ton of snow by heating with electricity or oil is also presented. This heating cost does not include installation costs, and assumes that the only operating cost is the fuel required to melt completely a given weight of snow at 100 per cent efficiency.

TABLE 2 - ESTIMATED RANGE IN COST

FOR REMOVING 1 TON OF SNOW

SERVICE

Small Airports Large Airports Highways

Small Urban Centres Large Urban Centres Electricity

Oil

Range in Cost for Removing 1 ton of snow (cents) 4 - 12 6 - 36 2 -36 5 -30 30 - 100 or more 84 42

The annual cost of removing snow from air-ports, highways, railways and urban centres in Canada will naturally vary from year to year, depending partly on variable amounts of the

sea-sonal snow. Without the necessary statistical

records, it is difficult to estimate this variation or even to determine average annual snow-clearing costs. With the information that is available, it is only possible to indicate the relative magnitudes of annual snow-clearing costs.

Tn 1959-60, the reported cost of removing snow from 43 airports in Canada was about $500,000, and the total amount of snow removed was

esti-mated to be 4 x 10D _{tons giving an average unit}

cost of 12.5¢/ton. This figure does not include the cost of snow removed by the RCAF so that the annual cost of removing snow from Canada's air-ports is probably about $l,OOO,OOO/year.

The cost of removing snow from urban centres was obtained by estimating that 40,000 miles of urban roads in Canada require on the average

$500-$1000/mile for snow clearing. Ifthe annual

seasonal snowfall is estimated to be 70 inches, the total seasonal snowfall removed from 40,000 miles of urban roads would be 192 x lOB tons at an annual cost of $20-40 million, or an average unit cost of about 10-20¢/ton.

The annual cost of snow removal from urban

centres has been estimated to be $30 million7

which represents about 30 per cent of the reported cost of maintaining all urban roads in Canada in 1959 (repairs, cleaning, sanding, snow

re-moval)."?

In Canada, there are about 270,000 miles of surfaced highways. The reported cost of keeping these roads clear of snow range from a low of

$50/mile or less to a high of $1800/mile. Ifit is

assumed that on the average it requires $100-200/mile to keep these roads clear of snow, the total annual cost would be from $27-54 million. The amount of seasonal snowfall (70 inches as-sumed average) falling on these roads represents

about 1200 xlOB tons of snow. Ifthis snow could

be removed at an animal cost noted, the average

unit cost of snow removal would be from

2.2-4.5¢/ton.

It is considered that the range in annual cost

of clearing snow from highways is not

unreason-10The Canada Year Book. Dominion Bureau of Sta-tistics, 1961, Queen's Printer.

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'" f--"" 50,000 f-ｾ 40,000 f-""_ｾ _30,000 f-::< c-c 20,000 f-ｾ o z ""_ｾ _10,000 f-o ""ｾ I U z 5,000 f-Fluctuation--J' m Budget , 4 -$300, 000 $1, 400, 000

-:I: U Z I I I I I 5000 10,000 10 50 100 500 1000

ANNUAL BUDGET, THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

Fig. 1. Relationship Between Amount of Snow Cleared from City Streets (Inch-Miles) and Snow Removal Budgets

able because the reported cost of snow clearing for highways maintained by the Ontario Depart-ment of Highways alone is about $14 million.'!

An average annual cost of $27-54 million

repre-sents from 13 to 26 per cent of the total money spent on highway maintenance in Canada in

1960.1°

The cost of removing snow, ice and sand from the two major railways in Canada was reported to

be about $7,000,000 in 1961.12 _It _{is estimated}

that an average seasonal snowfall of 70 inches falling on the 60,000 miles of track in Canada

would be about 9 x 1O" tons. If the annual cost

is assumed to range from $5-15 million, the unit cost of snow removal would range from 5.5-16.5¢/ton.

Table 3 summarizes the annual cost of snow clearing in Canada. The total estimated cost, ranging from about $62-110 million per season, includes only public funds spent on snow clearing and does not include any indirect costs of snow removal, nor the cost of private snow removal operations.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SNOWFALL AMOUNTS AND SNOW CLEARING COSTS

The information available on snow clearing costs in Canada is not suitable for detailed

statis-11Year-Round Preparedness Keeps Queen Province "Cold War Army" Fit for Service. Public Works in Canada, Vol. 11, No.7, September 1963,

12Estimate obtained from - Public Finance, Transporta-tion Division, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa,

tical analysis. Some of the information available on urban snow removal can be used to illustrate the type of analysis which could be done if ade-quate cost records were available.

Using the results of the two surveys taken in 1959 and 1961 on the cost of snow clearing

in cities," 8 general relationships between the

amount of snow (inch-miles) and annual snow clearing budget were established (Fig. 1). The difference between the 1949 and 1961 curves is partly due to the general increase in snow clearing costs over this decade. Some of this difference can also be attributed to the fact that the 1949 data includes predominantly American cities, and the 1961 curve is entirely Canadian cities. The Amer-ican cities are generally in regions of lighter snow-fall and milder temperatures where the same amount of snow (inch-miles) can be removed at a lower total cost than in more northern areas. The considerable scatter to points on Fig. 1 is to be expected as this relationship will depend on snow clearing methods, efficiency of operation,

type of streets - all the factors that affect

re-ported snow clearing costs (Table 1). Each urban centre will have special conditions and should be studied separately to establish the type of

relation-ship shown on Fig. 1. If such a relationship can

be developed, it should be possible to estimate the seasonal fluctuation in snow budget from the ex-pected seasonal fluctuation in annual snowfall.

If, for example, it is assumed that the curve

(1961) of Fig. 1 is valid for a city where the

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TABLE 3 - ESTIMATED ANNUAL COST OF SNOW CLEARING IN CANADA 1200 x 1()6 190 x 1()6 90 x 1()6 4 x 106 Tons of Snow Removed 27 - 54 30 - 40 5 - 15 Y2 - 1

Cost of Snow Clearing (millions of dollars) 270,000 40,000 60,000 Miles of Road or Track 1 -I

I

i SERVICE Roads Urban Centres Railways Airports

sonal snowfall fluctuates from a minimum of 30 inches to a maximum of 70 inches, then, if the street mileage remains constant at 600 miles, snow

clearing costs can be expected to fluctuate

from a minimum of $300,000 to a maximum of $1,400,000.

SNOW REMOVAL COST TRENDS

The total cost of clearing snow from highways, urban areas, and airports has increased greatly in Canada in recent years. This increase has been due to expanding transportation facilities and a mount-ing public demand for snow-free roads and

run-ways. No figures are readily available on railroad

costs but, presumably, the increase there has not been so spectacular, since the railways have had to provide good snow clearing facilities for many years.

In 1931 the cost of snow clearing on Provin-cial highways in Ontario was estimated to be $500,000 1 compared to a recent estimate of $14 million. In 1939 the reported cost of keeping

airports clear of snow in Canada was $30,0005

compared to the estimated $1/2-1 million now required. The cost of snow clearing in the City of Ottawa for the winter of 1916-17 was reported to be $20,000,13 rising to a reported $120-140,000 in 1939,14 while it is now around the million dollar mark. The cost of snow clearing

in Montreal was high even in 1916 when it cost

from $1000-2000/mile to keep the streets of this major business city open in wlnter.P In recent years, however, the cost of snow clearing in Montreal is reported to be from $6000-7000/mile. Table 4 compares the reported annual snow budgets of 1949 and 1960 for five Canadian centres. According to these records the cost of 13Hunter, L. M.Snow Clearing and Removal in Ottawa.

The Canadian Engineer, Vol. 34, No.7, February 14, 1918.

14Aswkith, F. C. How Ottawa Handles Snow Problems.

The Canadian Engineer, Vol. 77, No. 16, October 17, 1939.

15 Mercier, P. E.Snow Removal in Montreal.The Cana-dian Engineer, Vol. 31, No.4, p. 71-72, July 27, 1916.

snow clearing in 1949-50 for these cities ranged from 50¢ to $2.50/capita. In 1960 the cost of snow clearing at these same cities had risen to

$1-5/capita. If this same rate of increase

con-tinues, the cost/capita in 1980 could range from $2-10.50/capita. At the same time, it is estimated that by 1980 the urban population will increase

to 21 million.!" If both the cost of snow

clear-ing per capita and the total urban population

increase, the cost ofurban snow removal will more

than double in the next 15 years, approaching the $100 million mark by 1980, this being for keeping city streets alone clear of snow.

It is to be expected that the cost of snow clear-ing on highways will also continue to increase. It has been forecast that between 1954 and 1980 the number of passenger cars will increase by 226 per cent, and the number of commercial vehicles by 155 per cent.l" The number of ve-hicle-miles is expected to more than triple over this same period. These expected increases will

mean an increased demand for more highways

and a high level of snow clearing services with resulting higher annual snow clearing costs.

The cost of clearing snow from railway lines can be expected to change but little since the total mileage of track is not expected to increase markedly. The cost of snow clearing at airports will gradually increase as airports increase in number and size.

If we now consider the overall picture, it

appears to be reasonably certain that the total cost of public snow clearing operations in Canada is going to double probably within the next ten years, if automobile traffic increases as now an-ticipated by statisticians. Since we are spending at the present time up to $100 million in public funds in this way each year and probably an equal amount from private funds, the cause of our concern will be evident.

16Dube, Y., Howes, J. E., and McQueen, D. L. Housing

and Social Capital. Royal Commission on Canada's

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TABLE 4 - SOME REPORTED ANNUAL SNOW BUDGETS 1949 AND 1960

CITY YEAR ANNUAL SNOW COST/MILE

BUDGET -- ---MONTREAL 1949 2,000,000 3050 1960 6,000,000 6900 - - - -- - - -TORONTO _, 1949 650,000 1100 i 1960 1,380,000 2400 I i WINNIPEG 1949 180,000 410 1960 670,000 1090 - - - -GUELPH ! 1949 8,000 110 1960 76,000 970 -- - - -MONCTON 1949 28,000 59 1960 235,000 2100 ICE CONTROL

Itis difficult to separate the cost of snow

clear-ing operations - the moving of snow from the

location on to which it falls either to an adjacent location (as by plowing) or its complete removal

(as by trucking) - from ice control costs. Much

of the increase in cost of snow clearing operations in Canada has been due to the growing public demand for completely "bare streets" which has led to the widespread use of chemicals for the melting of ice on streets and highways caused by freezing rain or by the compacting effect of traffic upon freshly fallen snow.

The use of chemicals for this purpose is a

matter of keen public controversy. Somewhat

naturally, we wish to avoid futile arguments at a meeting such as this but the use of chemicals for ice control is a fact that must be faced.

Here again the dearth of accurate statistics makes it difficult to present very accurate evidence but even the scanty data that are available give cause for concern. In Canada it has been esti-mated that salt production has grown from 1.8

million tons in 1957 to 3.3 million tons in 19621 7

- in effect a doubling of the amount used in the

last five years. Much of this increase is due to the increased use of chemicals for ice control

on streets and roads. It is estimated that the

amount of salt used on streets and highways has grown from 390,000 tons in 1958 to an estimated

850,000 tons in 1963.1 8 _{Ontario, for example,}

17Ripley, J.G. Damage Caused by De-Icing Chemicals.

Engineering and Contract Record, Vol. 76, No.1, January 1963.

ts Estimates obtained from March 14, 1964 issue of

Financial Post.

IS now using over 200,000 tons of chemicals

every year at a cost of about $2 million. The City of Montreal has increased its use of chemicals in twelve years from 2,600 to 75,000 tons per

year. If it is assumed the 75,000 tons is spread

uniformly over the 900 miles of streets, the rate of application would be 83 tons/mile or 31 lbs./lineal ft. of street/winter season. Supporting evidence of the increased use of chemicals for ice control comes from Great Britain, a country not normally thought of in connection with winter road problems, where one million tons of chemi-cals are being used in the United Kingdom during the present winter for this purpose !

It isto be noted that figures normally cited for the cost of chemical ice control are direct costs, merely for the purchase of chemicals and their distribution on road surfaces. When indirect costs are considered, astronomical cost estimates can be produced which naturally lend themselves to controversy. No such estimates will be attempted but it must be recognized that the costs of extra road maintenance necessitated by the use of chem-icals, of concrete deterioration in pavements and bridges as a direct result of chemical action, and above all of metallic corrosion directly attributable to the use of chemicals for ice control (chiefly in automobiles) is a formidable figure by any stand-ard and one that presents a ringing challenge. SNOW AND ICE RESEARCH

IN CANADA

When it is recalled that the problem discussed is only one of the many ways in which snow and ice affect life in Canada, the question may very

properly be asked - What is being done in

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Canada to find out more about the properties of snow and ice and their effect upon man-made structures and normal daily operations? Snow and ice research has been officially recognized in

Canada only in comparatively recent years. It

will be useful, if only as background material for your discussions, to take a quick look at what has been and what is being done in this field. Down through the years, there have always been isolated individuals with inquiring minds who, without the benefit of modern aids to re-search, have made pioneer studies in this as in other fields. Typical is the work of Major Edward Williams at Quebec City as early as 1784; his experiments were carefully recorded and make

interesting reading even today.1_n _{A fascinating}

job, long waiting to be undertaken, is the study of early American scientific records for the many further examples of this type of early research that almost certainly exist.

In the early years of this century, Professor Howard T. Barnes of McGill University became interested in the problem of ice on the St. Law-rence River and conducted many experiments with "thermit" that won him international recog-nition. He summarized much of his work in a

book that was a pioneer in its field.2 0 _Dean

Ernest Brown, also of McGill, conducted some of the earliest Canadian experiments on the strength of ice in a Montreal cold storage ware-house, in connection with a study of ice pressure against dams.>'

Some of the first studies in Canada of snow as a material were made in connection with the design of aircraft skis by our colleague George J. Klein, of the Division of Mechanical Engineer-ing, N.R.C., who is present at this meeting. This work was related to Canadian wartime activity as was also the most unusual snow and ice re-search work ever done in this country, the de-velopment of "Pykrete", ice reinforced with wood fibres and intended for the construction of floating

self-refrigerating ice-fields." The testing of a

19Legget, R. F. Early Discoverers - Early Canadfan Experiments on Ice - (1784-85). Journal of Glaciol-ogy, Vol. 3, No. 24, October 1958.

20Barnes, H. T. Ice Engineering. Montreal Renouf Pub-lishing Company, 1928.

21Brown, E.and Clarke, G. C. Ice Thrust in Connection

with Hydro-Electric Plant Design. Engineering Jour-nal, Vol. 15, No.1, p. 18-25, January 1932.

22 Perutz, M. F. A Description of the Iceberg Aircraft

Carrier and the Bearing of the Mechanical Properties of Frozen Wood Pulp Upon Some Problems of Glacier Flow. Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 1. No.3, p. 95, 1948.

12

block of this material by Earl Mountbatten during the top level conference at the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City, is one of the prize anecdotes of the

war.23

It was the sudden development of later war-time problems relating to the operation of tracked vehicles on mud (and later on snow) that led to the establishment in 1945 of the Associate Com-mittee on Soil and Snow Mechanics. This name, so happily combining Soil Mechanics and Snow Mechanics and initially disguising a high security investigation, was the inspiration of Dr. C. J. MacKenzie then President of N.R.C. With the coming of peace, the Committee turned its atten-tion to civilian problems and a study of what was known about snow and ice had high priority.

Switzerland in 1946 appeared to be the only country in which snow and ice research was already established. The senior author, therefore, had the privilege of being one of the first post-war official Canadian visitors to Switzerland when he went there in April 1946 primarily to visit the Swiss Snow and Ice Research Laboratory located on the Weissfluhjoch at Davos-Dorf. Standing in that fine laboratory, in its magnificent mountain setting, and seeing the progress that had even then been made in the study of snow and ice by this relatively small country, the author ventured to dream of what Canada would one day achieve in this same field. This splendid meeting of today is a fine step towards that ob-jective.

Interest developed by the reports of Swiss activity brought back from that meeting led to the convening (by the Associate Committee) of the first Canadian public conference on snow and ice

research in September 1947ＮＲｾ In those days

there was little progress to report; even the

glaciers of Canada had not been properly mapped,

let alone studied. Sir Charles Wright,

interna-tionally famous if only as the Wright of "Wright

and Priestley", authors of the great English

pioneer text on Glaciology, was present at the meeting and assisted in the wide-ranging discus-sions that eventually led to the listing of over one hundred research projects related to snow and

ice that appeared to demand attention. Snow

clearing and ice control naturally figured pro-minently in this schedule.

2:{Lampe, D. Pyke; The Unknown Genius. Evans

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At about this time, the newly formed Division of Building Research of the National Research Council established its Snow and Ice Research section, in appreciation of the general importance of this field and of its special relevance to the building industry which it was to serve. (In this context, the word 'building' comprehends all the activities allied with construction, as implied by the word 'batiment' in our second language.) In order to have a firm foundation upon which to develop the work of this small group, the Council invited Dr. Marcel de Ouervain (now Director of the Swiss Laboratory at Davos) to spend a year with the Division and to study Canadian snow and ice problems. This he did, his report upon "Snow and Ice Research in Canada" being a masterly, interesting and even entertaining re-view." If space permitted, Dr. de Ouervain could be quoted from his report on the subject matter of this conference. Suffice to say that he urged that attention should be given to the problems you will be discussing.

Meantime, the Associate Committee had ini-tiated and sponsored the Snow Survey of Canada, the observations for which were primarily taken by the staff of the Meteorological Branch of the Department of Transport. A snow sampling kit, developed by Mr. Klein, was used in this survey and has also been widely used throughout the

world." The Survey was an immense job that

yielded invaluable information, some of which may be mentioned at this meeting. It has been fully reported27 and is being continued, on a

modified scale, by the Meteorological Service itself.

Most of the work on the Survey, apart from the actual field observations, was carried out by the staff of the DBR Snow and Ice Section. Excel-lent though the work of this small group was, it must be admitted that general recognition of the importance of this type of research work was slow in coming. It was, perhaps, the successful 24Proceedings of Conference on Snow and Ice. N.R.C .. Associate Committee on Soil and Snow Mechanics, Technical Memorandum No. 10, 1947.

25De Quervain, M. R. Snow and Ice Problems in Canada

and the U.S.A. N.R.C. Division of Building Research. Technical Report No.5, February 1950.

2il Klein, G. J., Pearce, D. C., and Gold, L. W. Method

of Measuring the Significant Characteristics of a Snow Cover. N.R.C. Associate Committee on Soil and Snow Mechanics, Technical Memorandum No. 18, Novem-ber 1950.

27Gold, L. W. and Williams, G. P. Some Results of the

Snow Survey of Canada. National Research Council, Division of Building Research, Research Paper No. 38, June 1957.

application of basic scientific studies to severely practical problems that eventually seemed to demonstrate this significance. Typical examples are the work done by L. W. Gold, head of the Section, on the bearing strength of ice, work that was applied by the Pulp and Paper Companies in relation to pulpwood storage on lakes and

rivers,"and that of P. A. Schaerer on avalanches,

his results being the basis for the design of all the snow protection works in the Trans-Canada High-way through Rogers Pass and elsewhere.w

Under Mr. Gold's direction, much fundamental work has also been done, notably into the phys-ical properties of ice,30 and the thermal regime of the ground surface.F' It has been a great encouragement to see this type of work get started at Universities, notably at McGill under Dr. Pounder.P Professor Seheult at the University of New Brunswick has carried out snow studies in relation to over-snow travel in woods operations. The Universities of British Columbia, Alberta and Toronto have all engaged in glacier research and this naturally leads to considerations of ice as a material.

In the last year or two there has been a signi-ficant increase in this type of activity. Dr. Pounder's studies of sea ice are stimulating other investigators in this field. Many of the major glaciers of Canada are now under regular ob-servation. Our colleagues in the Division of Mechanical Engineering have studied ice condi-tions in the St. Lawrence River and also in an Arctic Harbour; and under defence auspices, other more specialized investigations are in prog-ress.

It is satisfactory to be able to add that all this work is being carried out with reasonable liaison and co-ordination, as is so often a feature of Canadian research. The Working Group on Ice in Navigable Waters of the Canadian Committee on Oceanography, the Glacier and Hydrolo-28Gold, L. W. Field Study on the Load Bearing Capacity

of Ice Covers. Woodlands Review, Pulp and Paper Magazine of Canada, May 1960, Vol. 61, No.5.

2[1Schaerer, P. A. Planning Avalanche Defence Works

for the Trans-Canada Highway at Rogers Pass, B.C.

The Engineering Journal, March 1962, Vol. 45, No.3, p. 31-38.

00Gold. L. W. Some Observations on the Dependence

of Strain on Stress for Ice. Canadian Journal of Physics, October 1958, Vol. 36, No. 10.

:nPearce, D. C. and Gold, L. W. Observations of Ground

Temperature and Heat Flow at Ottawa, Canada.

Journal of Geophysical Research, September 1959, Vol. 64, No.9, p. 1293-1298.

32 Ice Research Project - McGill University - Mac-donald Physics Laboratory - Annual Report 1961.

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gical Subcommittees of the Associate Committee on Geodesy and Geophysics, and the Subcom-mittee responsible for this meeting, all have what may be called "interlocking memberships" so that in this very personal way all Canadian research workers in this important but specialized field of research are able to keep reasonably well informed about each other's work.

This is most desirable, not only because of the importance of the field being served but also because, in our opinion, the corner seems to have been turned with regard to the acceptance of snow and ice research work in Canada. No more than this can be said for the volume of work done is still very small. There appears to be, however, an awareness of the need for research of this kind. The interest shown in this meeting is warrant for thinking this, at least with regard to the associated problems of snow clearing and ice control. You may be assured that any recommendations for research that may develop from this meeting will be given the most sympathetic attention by the Associate Committee.

FINAL COMMENT

The stage has now been set, we hope, for your more detailed discussions. This introductory paper will probably be unique amongst the contributions

to the conference in one respect at least - it has

no "Conclusion". Nor should it have, since your deliberations will provide any conclusion that may be necessary to what has been only a cursory introduction to the vast subject you have met to consider.

We have seen, on the one hand, the outlines of a major country-wide activity carried out each winter by a variety of excellent organizations, through the medium of devoted workers utilizing a wide variety of efficient machinery and equip-ment, giving us reasonably clear city streets, high-ways that are now truly available for year-round use, railways that defy the weather, and runways that are almost always available for the use of civilian and military aircraft. One might say that the snow as an impediment to winter travel has been beaten.

But at what cost? Up to a hundred million dollars from public funds alone with probably an equal amount from private industry and house-holders making a total direct cost that approaches a quarter of a billion dollars annually. And if the principal indirect costs, such as overhead charges,

14

be included the total cost would be very much

more than this. Is the result worth it? Are the economic benefits that derive from easy winter travel, and they are undoubted, commensurate with the expenditure? We do not know.

We do know that the public, for their part, demand clear winter roads. Would this demand be the same if the public had to pay for this service directly instead of indirectly? Does the ordinary winter driver between (say) Ottawa and Toronto realize how much it has cost to make his road clear for him. Could we help ourselves by knowing, for example, what snow clearing costs per vehicle mile on different types of roads? We suspect that this would be a revealing set of figures.

And are we doing the job efficiently? Are there any standards against which snow clearing costs can be judged? We have failed to discover any that have validity. In fact, the dearth of accurate information about snow clearing costs in general is perhaps the main gap to be filled in the years immediately ahead if we may assume that the time has come when research can make some contribution to this uniquely Canadian winter achievement that has developed so remarkably in the last decade.

We have reviewed, in a very general way, the main lines of snow and ice research in Canada up to this time. Now we must look ahead. The objective of most applied research is to enable operational services to be improved or maintained at reduced cost. In snow clearing, research can

attempt to reduce costs in several ways - by

improved design of equipment, by development and improvement of thermal and chemical meth-ods, by improvement in planning and adminis-tration, by better weather forecasts, and by development of traffic regulations that will result in better use of snow clearing equipment. Espe-cially important is the co-ordination of research, and the dissemination of information that is available. On many aspects of snow clearing, there have been numerous investigations; the problem is not to initiate new research projects but rather to make available the results of studies that have taken place.

Judging from the published information that is available on snow clearing costs, not much effort has been expended by organizations on cost-analysis research, although some "cost-benefit"

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studies have been started." With increasing snow clearing costs and continued demand for better snow clearing services, this type of inves-tigation should prove beneficial. As each city, highway department or other organizations has 33Snow Removal and Ice Control in Urban Areas. search Project No. 114, Progress Report No.3, Re-search Foundation, American Public Works Associa-tion, October 1963.

special problems, such cost studies must, however, be directed and planned to suit the needs of the particular organization involved.

Perhaps above all are the problems posed by the use of chemicals for ice control, the solution to which will call for far more than the usual engineering approach, illustrating yet once again the inter-disciplinary character of research even in such a field as this.

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METEOROLOGY OF SNOW AND ICE

by K. T. McLEOD Meteorological Branch Department of Transport ABSTRACT

Weather information required by winter main-tenance organizations, such as time of arrival of storm, type of storm, estimated rate of snowfall, windspeed, and temperature, is discussed. A gen-eral description is presented of the weather

ob-servation network in Canada, and how forecasts

are prepared from these observations. A realistic appraisal is presented of present-day forecast capability. Some of the services that are available from the Canadian Weather Service are described.

Reliable transportation has become an accepted necessity of Canada's way of life. Snow and ice

present the major seasonal interference with

through passage on the main arteries of transport across Canada. A survey of the nature of snow and ice control operations on urban routes and highways, on railways and airports, indicates that snow affects transport somewhat differently in each type of operation. It is the purpose of this paper to outline briefly the part the Canadian Weather Service can play in supporting snow removal and ice control activities. Four topics will be considered :

( 1) the weather information believed to be needed;

(2) weather information available for day-to-day operations;

(3) weather information for planning, and design problems;

( 4) relevant comment and future prospects. In commenting on these topics briefly, it is hoped that some of your questions will be answered; the role of the meteorologist will be clarified and the relationships between snow and ice and the combat operations will be brought into clearer focus.

RESUME

On examine les donnees meteorologiques dont ont besoin les organisations qui deblaient la neige en hiver, comme le moment d'arrivee des tempe-tes, le genre des tempetempe-tes, l'importance des chutes de neige, la vitesse du vent, et la temperature. On presente une description generale du reseau des stations d'observation meteorologique au Canada, et on indique comment les previsions sont

prepa-rees

a

partir des observations. On evalue les

possibilites actuelles en matiere de previsions. Quelques-uns des services rendus par le Service meteorologique canadien sont decrits.

The nature of the weather information needed by each type of removal operation may be out-lined in detail by other speakers or through dis-cussion, but since it is essential for us to know what is needed, a brief resume of the assumed needs is presented here. Amendments, additions and corrections are invited.

We believe that advice or warnings are needed several hours in advance covering the time of arrival and the nature and rate of accumulation of snow. Certain hours of the day seem to be more critical than others, particularly for urban and airport operations, as are certain days of the week, depending on the pattern of traffic. Since control operations are carried out over a relatively wide area, with the exception of airport main-tenance, the type of snow conditions should be known for each of the main sections of the overall operating areas. Details on the anticipated time of commencement of snowfall, the nature of the snow, whether dry, moist or wet, the rate of accumulation and time of ending is needed for each section. It would also be useful, particularly when manpower is diverted from other work, to know the length of the interval until the next snowfall, and its general characteristics.

Temperature seems to determine the type of control action to be taken, and advice is needed