Snow road

To increase the road's load capacity and its resistance to wear, water can be added onto the snow surface, resulting in a denser pavement and the formation of an ice cap. Ultimately, with a sufficient amount of flooding, an ice layer of significant thickness can be built, for a higher quality road in terms of effectiveness and load bearing capacity. Ice aggregate, typically collected from a nearby frozen lake, is also used on uneven terrain - it is flooded and allowed to freeze.

History

Before the predominance of automobiles, some snowbelt towns compacted snow-covered primary roads to facilitate horse-drawn sleigh traffic. This was accomplished by pulling logs or large, heavy drums (called snow rollers) over new-fallen snow by a team of draft animals.