Morning update: Temperature nosedive

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By Rick Rector | Friday, November 7, 2008 6:35 AM CST | () comments

First, the good news. It’s Friday and little or no snow accumulation is expected through the weekend. Now the not-so-good news. At 5:30 a.m. it’s 40 degrees in the Quad-Cities under fair skies. That’s about as warm as we’re going to get today. The National Weather Service is forecasting cloudy skies with scattered rain showers before noon, then snow showers possible after noon and into the afternoon. It will be breezy with wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Tonight there’s a 50 percent chance of snow. It will be cloudy and breezy with wind gusts as high as 25 mph and a low around 33 degrees.

For those heading to Iowa City Saturday to watch the Hawkeyes play Joe Pa's Penn State, there’s a 40 percent chance of snow showers with a high near 38 degrees and a low around 28 degrees. West winds will produce gusts as high as 25 mph.

Sunday will bring a chance of flurries with a high of 41 and a low of 25.

Salt brine preserves more than grandmother’s pickles

With overnight air temperatures dropping and the ground getting colder, frost on bridges and snow on roadways causing slick, dangerous conditions for drivers.

The Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) is using salt brine, water saturated or nearly saturated with rock salt, to preserve safety on Iowa’s highway system by attempting to eliminate frost on the roadway.

The salt brine solution consists of about 2.2 pounds of rock salt to each gallon of water. When sprayed on the roadway at 50 gallons per lane mile, it’s equivalent of approximately 110 pounds of salt spread over a 12-foot wide roadway one mile in length.

Salt brine is used for anti-icing and prewetting. Hours before snow or freezing rain falls or frost forms, salt brine can be applied to state roads and bridges which is referred to as anti-icing. This gives crews a head start on cleaning the roadways. While it might look unusual to see road crews spraying roads and bridges with salt brine on a day when roads are clear and the sky is sunny, these proactive, anti-icing treatments can prevent a bond from forming between the roadway and precipitation when conditions change. Prewetting is when dry salt is sprayed with the salt brine solution as it is dispersed from the snowplow truck.

The use of salt brine has many advantages. In some circumstances, it can cut the cost of maintaining a safe road surface over conventional deicing.

Brine also:

• Can help return road surfaces to normal faster, resulting in fewer crashes and delays.

• Jump-starts the melting process, because salt needs moisture to begin the melting process.

• Often carries over between storms.

• Causes rock salt to melt ice faster when sprayed on dry materials distributed from the back of a snowplow.

• Helps prevent dry materials from bouncing or blowing off the road surface, so they are used more efficiently.

• Inhibits a bond from forming between snow, and ice and the pavement, and can start working when precipitation begins or frost forms.

• Allows crews to cover more territory during a storm.

• Minimizes environmental concerns because materials stay on the roadway.

• Reduces the amount of sand that is needed, saving tax dollars and natural resources. It also leaves no sand residue behind that has to be removed from storm sewer catch basins or swept up and disposed of in the spring by street sweeping equipment.

• Provides safer working conditions for snowfighters who can travel on less slippery roads.

While salt brine isn’t the answer to all snow and ice situations, it gives road workers one more weapon against frost, snow and ice, which helps make Iowa a safer place to drive.

Road projects

Here’s a heads up for Rock Island commuters. Beginning Monday, drivers will experience lane restrictions for roadway improvement on U.S. 67 from 1st to 10th avenues until July 2009.

Meanwhile in Davenport, Jersey Ridge Road at E. 11th St., is closed for sewer repairs until next week.

Other recent road projects affecting many drivers:

• Road construction on U.S. 61 between Iowa 92 east and Iowa 22 west is restricting the roadway to one lane in both directions. The patching project continues weekdays through Nov. 17.

• Motorists may encounter intermittent lane closures because of bridge repair work on U.S. 67 at Scott County Road F-33 until Dec. 3. The work on U.S. 67 takes place a half mile south of Follets. The lane closures affects motorists going in both directions. Flaggers are in the work zone to assist motorists.

• Lane restrictions are in place on U.S. 67 north of Bettendorf for water main work near 249th Avenue. The contractor is expected to close one lane of U.S. 67 at a time, first with the northbound lane and proceeding to the southbound lane once northbound work is complete.

• Road work on River Drive in Davenport and Grant Street in Bettendorf continues to slow traffic.

• Check for other local closings and closings across Iowa and Illinois before you head out this morning. If you see road projects that should be added to our road closings list, drop us an e-mail at newsroom@qctimes.com or give us a call at (563) 383-2235. Also check out our gasoline price list to see who has the lowest gasoline prices at town.

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See news happening? Contact us

Stuck in traffic? See an accident or fire on your way to work? Drop us an e-mail at newsroom@qctimes.com or give us a call at (563) 383-2235 if you see breaking news such as house fires, traffic accidents and road conditions, street closures/detours and water main breaks in the Quad-City region.