In NYC, when it snows, how does the snow get off the sidewalks were everyone walks?

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MikaB

They put down salt, people shovel, they plow the roads. They do the same as they do in Chicago or anywhere else that gets snow really.

Ben Dover

It gets shoveled or plowed, just like everywhere else.

♥♀(⚧)✌ ג'סיקה ❷❺❸❷

They have snowplows and workers that move snow of the sidewalks.
BUT OMG YOU HAVE TO SEE NYC AFTER A BLIZZARD IT IS BEAUTIFUL, NO CARS NO NOTHING, JUST UTTER QUIET :)

Jamerican Steve

The property owner has to get rid it it themselves (with a shovel) or hire someone to do it with a snow blower if they do not have one themselves.

If it small job, they will use a shovel but for the big stuff (over 6 inches), a snow blower is mostly used. This way, fuel isn't wasted.

To prevent a build up of more snow, calcium chloride is put down afterwards and its the reason it all melts and turns to brown slush. Calcium chloride is safer on the sidewalks and won't let it crack which could cause someone to trip.

I believe (i need to double check) the owner has 4 hours to clear the sidewalks after the snow stops falling. Otherwise, they could get fined by the city. They can also be fined by dumping it back into the street after the city snow plows do the streets.

The NY Times reported on it as well snow on sidewalks as well.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE7D6163EF936A25751C1A960958260

noтн!ngнeяe

The roads are plowed daily by snow plows, which are really garbage trucks and other large city vehicles, which have snow plows connected to the front.

Sidewalks, especially those surrounding the entrances to buildings and stores, are shoveled by employees. The salt is only used to prevent the formulation of ice.

mommy of 2

people shovel and then spread salt

Bub

they shovel it or snow blow it into the streets or alley ways where the snow trucks can get to it or it sits there til it melts.

Miss America♥

The Department of Sanitation comes around with bulldozer ,and salt beforehand, usually they know a day before that it's gonna be a blizzard, and they periodically come through the neighborhood shuffling the snow , this is on the streets. Business owners themselves and residents are required to shovel the sidewalks. If they are public sidewalks, it is the Dept of Sanitations job to clean it.

Edit* D Icon: you've never been to NY have you. It is 18 degrees here right now, so what are you talking about it doesn't get that cold? There are sheets of thick ice on almost every sidewalk right now.

☮ ♥ :)

shoveling and icing the sidewalks

D_Icon

Well, it doesn't get too cold in NYC for any extended periods of time so as long as the ground stays warmer than the snow, the snow tends to melt on contact or soon there after.

There are so many tunnels and subways under NYC, it has to be a constant heat source for the ground.

That and people shovel if necessary! Some businesses downtown may also have heated sidewalks where pipes of hot water run under the concrete keeping it warm enough that snow melts on contact. I used to live in Buffalo and many business had this feature.

shoredude2

While a very small number of buildings use heated sidewalks, so the snow and ice melts when it hits the sidewalk. All other sidewalks are shoveled by the owner of the property (or more likely he pays someone to do it), just like anywhere else.

excuseoflove

usually they put salt on it before/after, and people walk on it so much the snow goes away

Happy Holidays-Luv Spongebob & I

They put rock salt on the road. Then they shovel it. But people wouldn't walk out in NY in winter. Most of them would take the train anyway.

I almost slipped on ice recently. :P

vickivalen

plow truck

Zane B

Salt then shovel

italia1091

concrete naturally melts the snow, don't know how though.

actually:

Concrete is naturally porous – typically 10 to 18 percent air (with extremes 2–60%). To make concrete "workable," a water-to-cement ratio of 0.45–0.50 is the norm but cement only needs 0.25 w/c ratio for hydration. As concrete cures, the surplus water escapes to its surface where it evaporates. This "bleeding water" leaves a network of tiny capillaries (pores) inside the concrete.

We cannot see the pores. Their size ranges from 3 nm (millionths of a mm) to 0.1 mm (the diameter of a human hair). The median is about 1 micron (1,000 nm) but a water molecule is 3,000 times smaller (0.28 nm). By all logic, concrete should leak like a sieve!

So, what holds the water back? Not the concrete but the physics of water itself. Although water not as viscous as molasses, it takes pressure to push it through dry microscopic pores. Surface tension holds the "blob" of water inside the dry pore until its surface gets wet. But add a little water pressure during occasional rainstorms or by condensation on the interior and after a while, the pores get wet and the concrete starts leaking. Concrete is hygroscopic - it attracts water by sorption and once wet, the pores draw in water from the ground by wicking action (capillary suction).

However, nothing holds back gases - invisible water vapor and radon gas flow right through the pores!

lacy426

they salt the road

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