I have to ask, What do you guys do when the snow falls and the temps are below 32*?

Just drive on it and pack it to ice?

Also what states are salt free?

 

Minnesota is NOT salt free, but a little west of here trucks seem to hold up pretty well. I think a lot of it is pretty much the "just drive on it" you wondered about. Most of the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado etc are pretty sparsely populated, so there isn't enough tax base to do everything a government might want to do. They plow the worst of it, but not always a lot more.

 

Are you asking about the driveway or the roads. I have a dirt drive that is 1000 ft long so I let the first several small snows just get driven on to form a base. Otherwise the plow just pushs my dirt in the yard. Once the base is frozen and packed then plow.

Big early or late snow suck if the driveway has already started to thaw out.

 

Around here (northern Arizona yes we get snow and quite a few days under 32 degrees) we mostly use cinders and it seems to do good. It does get the truck dirty fast but better then salt rusting out the trucks.
My dad has been in one small collision but that was partially the cars fault (wide street tires on 15x10s on a Ford Van hitting black ice since dad went before the trucks came out).


I do however have to travel 5 miles of backroads that are not maintained so yes I just drive on it but I drive on the non packed snow. Once I get on the packed snow my explorer is everywhere. The 90 does alright as long as I lock her in 4x4 with the street tires on her.
Trav

 

I only plow my driveway when it gets deep. Anything under 5" or so I just drive through it. Being only 2wd, it does quite well with stock size tires and a tight limited slip out back.

My township gets my roads done pretty quick, don't worry about getting out and about. I spray gallons of oil under my truck every year. It is NOT going to rust out. I think you will have a hard time finding a cleaner/rust free 89 F150 in Ohio that is driven daily all year around.

 

Alberta is gravel only, they plow main arteries, but side streets and such are last on the list, which at that point, are packed fully.

 

Ha, I wish it was salt free here. They put down liquid salt before it even snows! I have a 4x4 truck and I refuse to drive it unless its 100 percent necessary if there is any salt down. I didnt realize how vunerable older vehicles are to rust vs a 2012 car. I have a mustang I'll drive in the snow. Or salt rather. I HATE road salt

 

We are salt free here. When we get snow we shut down. Stores close and people stay home. Those that venture out usually end up in a ditch or in the back of another car. I on the other hand keep recovery equipment in my truck to pull said stuck people out of ditches.

As for clearing, we don't. It gets packed down and slick. I tend to try and avoid the hard packed areas even if it means going in 8"+ of fresh snow.

The last snow storm we got came so quick and was bad enough that people were abandoning cars in the middle of roads, intersections and even the freeway.

 

REALLY?? Do you get snow so infrequently that people just don't prepare? No snow tires or all season tires?

 

Salt free here in Montana, they just plow all main roads and the rest is driven on until its packed down. If the snow gets really bad there are a lot of small plow businesses that show up in full force. Vehicles generally hold up really well with very little rust around here.

 

Lots of salt used in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is hard on the vehicles. Snowfall is a pretty regular thing in my part of the county. County does a pretty good job of keeping the roads cleaned up but it is not unusual to have to drive over freshly fallen snow on the side roads to get to the main hwy. Sometimes you are breaking trail, even on the hwy. Everyone on my road owns a least one 4wd vehicle and/or a truck with a plow. You can't let the snow keep you from getting to work unless it is unsafe driving conditions like whiteout, major drifting, freezing rain or just an excessive amount has fallen. So yes we do drive on fresh snow quite often. The side roads around here will typically have a good 4 to 6 in base of hard pack depending on how often it snows and how soon the county can get to plowing them. They will rut up a bit but get smoothed out and graded down once the county gets to them. Most people with common sense can handle driving in the snow of certain amounts in my area. Still we will see a few in the ditch....... cars and trucks. Snowy driving conditions is a way of life up here.

 

Stay home...

Snow never lasts more than a couple days down here in Atlanta.

 

They used to not salt in South east Idaho where I grew up. Main arteries would get plowed and the snow will melt/evaporate off the black top when it is still below freezing. Highways and intersections would get sanded. I actually prefer this method over all the salt they use in utah. People actually had to know how to drive their vehicles.

 

Snow here is very infrequent. We had snow last year. Before that, it was 3 years of clear winters. The city doesn't have any plows either so you are on your own.

I would say a lot of people get prepared properly with tires and such, but the issue is that most have never driven in snow so they don't know how to control their vehicle in it. I drive over the mountains 5-6 times per winter to visit friends and family so I have had plenty of experience in snow and ice (upwards of 12" on the pass with ice).

 

Used to live on the western slope of colorado in Gunnison and Crested Butte, no salt, just gravel/sand. Plowing was decent, but the storms could be brutal at altitude and there was often a snow packed base on the roads and highways. Just leave earlier and slow down was the usual method. Not unusual to have the high passes on highways out of town closed for a half day or so (so you're "stuck" there). I never missed class/work for road conditions though.

In Laramie WY they salt a little only on main roads in town. Plowing is pretty bad off anything but a main road or highway. Side roads get rutted and pretty well neglected, hard on suspension parts. Plenty of sand used in town. The wind we get can make the highways across the high plains damn slick. Last week i80 was closed just west of here for 80mph gusts for quite a while. With only half a million of us in this whole state it just doesn't make sense to salt everything. Not to mention being near near the headwaters of many rivers, don't want runoff being too contaminated.

The rot on my truck slowed to a crawl when I moved out from Minnesota 8 years ago.