WTF was MNDOT doing yesterday. I went duck hunting in the Alex area yesterday and hit any icy spot west of St. Cloud on 94 for about 20 miles. Where the salt truck had been it was wet/not slippery pavement.
On the way home yesterday afternoon I thought that’s how it would be wet but not slippery. Wrongo Amigo. 20-40 mph from St Clould to Minnetonka. Never saw a MNDOT truck. Saw several cars in the ditch. A semi on west bound 94 in the median pointing east. A semi trying to stop to avoid a car doing circles in front of him went to the shoulder but the trailer went in the ditch. Pulling it diagonally until he stopped. I thought it was going to roll.
If MNDOT would have stayed ahead of it and treated all day it would have been way better. Perfect temps for the salt to work. They have some splainin’ to do.
Here’s my two cents. In recent years, salting a road has been declared environmentally unfriendly. While I can agree that we shouldn’t unnecessarily cover our roads in salt, the pendulum has swung so far that MnDOT won’t put anything down until it’s too late to be beneficial. This is not the first snow/ice event where they totally missed the mark.
I switched jobs 7 years ago. Prior to that time, I could expect good travel conditions when I left the house at 6 AM. I don’t knoW exactly when it changed, but I no longer expect the same results.