Monday, February 08, 2010
Stripes along the highways lead to salty travel tales
Tom Angleberger
The New River Valley-based reporter answers your questions Mondays in his column, What's on Your Mind?
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About two snowstorms ago, I was driving down U.S. 11 and saw dark stripes on the road.
At first I thought they'd been out with the tar buggy, patching the road. Then I thought about the approaching frozen precipitation and figured that the stripes must be part of the preparations.
Everyone knows that they "salt" the roads, but these stripes weren't white and grainy, they were dark and stuck to the road even when driven over. What exactly were they putting on the roads, I wondered, and why stripes instead of an even coat? And I figured that enough of you might be wondering about it, too, that I should find out.
"Salt in its dry form would just blow off with traffic passing over it," explained Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman Jason Bond. "However, salt can be mixed with water to create brine, and brine can be used to pre-treat the roads up to 48 hours before a snow event."
But why do they spray it on in stripes? "The spray heads leave a striped pattern on the road. Applying brine in a fine mist would leave a more continuous coating but would not be as effective as it would wash off easier with traffic passing over it."
And what does all this accomplish? "Brine prevents a bond from forming between the pavement and the snow and ice when the storm starts. This makes it easier to plow the road once the snow starts to fall because the ice and snow do not bond to the road surface."
According to Bond, VDOT has been doing more and more brine spraying since 2005 and this year expanded even farther. Some 200 miles of roads are covered in each VDOT district.
Q: With the TV show "Sesame Street" celebrating its 40th anniversary, we were wondering about a member of the cast named "Bob." We recall him in the chorus of Mitch Miller's singalong show in the early '60s. Can you find out any information about him?
Barbara and Ron Oetgen, Salem
A: I'm impressed that you knew about his stint with Mitch Miller. Did you know that was "big in Japan" back in the '60s? According to the book "Sesame Street Unpaved," he had a run of hit records and played to sell-out crowds there. Fans would scream "Bobu! Bobu!"
But he came back to the States, played himself on "Sesame Street" for decades and branched out into children's books, records and concerts.
Grammar Grumblings
This week's grumbling comes from Melissa Matusevich, who describes herself as a third-generation "grammar cop."
"Only living things can be healthy. A diet cannot be healthy nor can a lifestyle. They can, however, be healthful. Broccoli is healthy when it is growing but once plucked it becomes healthful, that is, good for our bodies. This means that the person who came up with the brand, Healthy Choice, needs Remedial Grammar 101."
Our Grammar Guru, retired English professor Virgil Cook, agrees with you to a point, but he noted that the dictionary doesn't.
"Unfortunately, the American Heritage Dictionary ... leaves a lot of wiggle room, actually listing 'healthy' as a synonym for 'healthful,' " he wrote. "Nevertheless, you are being precise -- some would argue pompous -- when you make the distinction."
Personally, I like your precision, but don't care for the word "healthful." I certainly wouldn't want to eat a frozen dinner called "Healthful Choice."
Got a question? Got an answer? Call Tom Angleberger at 777-6476 or send an e-mail to woym@roanoke.com. Don't forget to provide your full name, its proper spelling and your hometown.
Look for Tom Angleberger's column on Mondays.
