Spreading sand?

[Johnnie]

Hi all,

I've been wondering about this for a while now, so I turn to the collective wisdom of ADUK.

Last week, I happened to be following a grit spreader which was dispensing what appeared to be sand onto the road. It was much finer than grit / salt and was wafting on the wind, which you can just about see in this picture. (We'll leave the small technicality of how I took this picture to another time, ok!)



Anyone got any ideas what was going on and in fact why? This was on the day before floods were expected in the area, so I suppose it could be connected, but sand? I went down the same road a few hours later, and it had pretty much blown away, so it wouldn't have done much.

[crr003]

They grit if there's been a diesel/oil spill?

[PeteG]

Maybe some sort of tactic to stop the roads getting greasy when it rains?

[Big Err]

Summer sanding is either used to treat diesel/oil spillages, road surfaces melting in the heat, or to speed up the process of achieving the desired friction on new road surfaces such as the dreaded SMA (the sands action against the road surface under traffic loading hastens the removal of bitumen from the surface chips).

Eric

[7db]

Lorry on his way to a building site, slightly overloaded or not properly sealed spilling his load on the way?

[crr003]

Lorry on his way to a building site, slightly overloaded or not properly sealed spilling his load on the way?

Looks like a gritting wagon? OP says it was "dispensing"?

[Johnnie]

7db wrote:
Lorry on his way to a building site, slightly overloaded or not properly sealed spilling his load on the way?

Looks like a gritting wagon? OP says it was "dispensing"?

Yes, it was a gritting wagon, with orange lights flashing and the thing at the back spewing the stuff out, mainly over the centre line.

Summer sanding is either used to treat diesel/oil spillages, road surfaces melting in the heat, or to speed up the process of achieving the desired friction on new road surfaces such as the dreaded SMA (the sands action against the road surface under traffic loading hastens the removal of bitumen from the surface chips).

Eric

Some interesting ideas. I think we can discount the road surface melting last week! But... there are some shiny looking patches in the road where the surface appears to have been worn down to the tar. A cheapo way of 'resurfacing' the patches rather than doing it properly?

Two things come to mind. Just after the spreading, the sand looked like it posed more of a skid hazard than the patches of exposed tar. And now after a few breezy days and some rain, the sand has washed off. Good to see the council spending our money wisely!

[Big Err]

If it was done to treat an oil spillage or softening of the surface the roads authority would have been obliged to do something rather than 'sit it out' and be grateful for the coming storm.

We live in the days of claims and large 'faceless' organisations such as Councils and Roads Authorities are top of the hit list.

Eric

[Johnnie]

Fairly sure it wasn't an oil spillage. The bare patches have been there for months if not years, so it seems a bit odd for them to do something all of a sudden.

I can't believe that anyone could get away with blaming the road - it's dead straight for 2+ miles. But having said that, there has been the occasional prat doing 80+ down the straight overtaking everything in the way, runs out of road and can't negotiate the bends at the end of it. I suppose the council can't just tell them where to stick it.

[Big Err]

I suppose the council can't just tell them where to stick it.

In the current climate it sometimes seems that people being responsible for their own actions is a thing of the past.