Specifications include, but are not limited to: Clear Roads is an ongoing pooled fund research project aimed at rigorous testing of winter maintenance materials, equipment and methods for use by highway maintenance crews. Clear Roads will fund and oversee the contract for this project in coordination with MnDOT. Using salt to keep roads clear works very well, down to approximately 10 degrees Fahrenheit. It will also work at lower temperatures but it requires higher volumes and becomes less cost effective. When the temperature gets extremely low state agencies tend to: plow the roads rely on abrasives and/or use high volumes of salt. In more urban areas with high traffic volumes abrasives are ineffective and other strategies result in the over usage of salt, equipment and manpower.
