Cars CAN drive on snow pack!

[many a good man]

I know I know I know all about the reasonable excuses the Washington metro area govts make about how hard it is to clear snow after a big storm. But I heard something on the news that made me think they're doing it all wrong.

The news report alluded that the road crews keep trying their hardest to get one lane in each direction passable in each direction by plowing it down to the pavement. That's why it takes so long, sometimes days before intersections, turn lanes and side streets are cleared. In the meantime you have lanes that suddenly disappear in a big snow bank or intersections that you can just barely get across.

WHY do they think they have to clear the snow all the way down to the pavement?! When I lived up north we would drive on packed snow for weeks in the middle of the winter. Road crews don't worry about scraping down to bare pavement - they concentrate on clearing all the lanes. Cars CAN drive on snow pack safely!

Am I wrong about this? Isn't it unrealistic to try to get bare pavement after getting one or two or three feet of snow? What is wrong with driving on packed snow??

[woo me with science]

1. I think the concern might be

that packed snow tends to turn into ice as it melts and refreezes in warmer climates. You would require a lot of continued salting or sanding in that case, in order to prevent accidents. If you plow down to the bare street, you don't have to keep coming back.

That would be my guess, anyway.