Eco-Nuts

File this under the Eco-nuts gone, well, nuts. Seatle refuses to salt frozen roads

Some of the highlights:

"We're trying to create a hard-packed surface," said Alex Wiggins, chief of staff for the Seattle Department of Transportation.

So what he's saying is that they are trying to create a skating rink out of Seattle roads?

"If we were using salt, you'd see patches of bare road because salt is very effective," Wiggins said. "We decided not to utilize salt because it's not a healthy addition to Puget Sound."

Correct me if I'm wrong here but is Puget Sound not a body of salt water? He makes it sound like they are dumping radio active waste on the streets and that Puget Sound is going to turn into a barren wasteland if they clear the streets with, god forbid, salt. By the way isn't salt a naturally occurring mineral that occurs in the water and the land? And I just love how he admits that if they used salt it would clear the streets right up; salt, dangerous substance we sprinkle on our food for flavor.

Seattle also equips its plows with rubber-edged blades. That minimizes the damage to roads and manhole covers, but it doesn't scrape off the ice, Wiggins said.

That leaves many drivers, including Seattle police, pretty much on their own until nature does to the snow what the sand can't: melt it.

The city's patrol cars are rear-wheel drive. And even with tire chains, officers are avoiding hills and responding on foot, according to a West Precinct officer.

Criminals of Seattle here is your chance!

Cheryl Kuck, spokeswoman for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, said her city prepared the streets last week with the "anti-icing" spray. Once the snow started, Portland used chemical de-icers, followed by plowing with 55 plows and treating trouble spots with sand and gravel.

Although the city had plowed 29 of its 36 major routes, "nothing is clear," Kuck said late Monday afternoon. "This is a difficult and challenging situation that's going to take us a long time to recover from."

And another environmentally nutty city refuses to use salt and nothing is clear, and it's going to take a long time to recover. Of course this wouldn't have happened if they used some salt.

If I lived there I would take my box of salt and sprinkle it out in the street in front of my house, hopefully start a trend with the neighbors. We did it in Germany once to clear the sidewalk in front of our building. It works, and it's so safe you can eat it! This is just ridiculous.