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I am old enough to remember when the Maine Department of Transportation used to keep the winter roads safe for us during the winter. I will agree with the police that drivers just don’t slow down enough when conditions turn bad. But!
Here we go again, on Saturday, black ice on I-95 in the two same places that are chronic for black icing, and the resulting accidents, of course! Does the DOT head for our district not listen to or check the weather forecast?
They apparently don’t use salt-sand as much, which happens to provide traction on ice, and often use a brine brew. In my opinion, brine doesn’t result in traction on the road, but it will melt ice. Why would you not pretreat the known problem areas of our roads with a passion? The National Weather Service in Caribou issued the warning for Saturday.
Black ice chronically occurs on road surfaces that are more shaded from the sun during the winter, and roads with a higher elevation, which can get to the freezing point more quickly. This describes the two problem areas to a tee, just saying!
Brian Stearns
Holden