1:2:14: Snow fences in Wyoming are remarkable structures if not mysterious. The state puts forward significant outlays of lumber, cash and property in order to keep I-80 open to traffic during the winter. Snow fences in Laramie, Wyoming are legendary. This is where I-80 was built against the ancients, Native Americans who knew the Big Road should not never have been built in the area. Old locals knew better as well as a serious snow channel in the form of a natural snow and wind tunnel punishes the area so much that the rail road companies were prevented from laying down tracks there decades before. But tragically the builders of the Interstate System ignored the counsel of sages. Many deaths over the past half century along the route are due to fierce storms and snow. The section of highway is notoriously called Snow Chi Minh Trail. Talk came to relocating I-80. Then came the storm fences and now the green fences. The mater mind behind the structures is a little known about engineer.
Check out this story in Slate that talks about Dr. Ron Tabler, a snow wind engineer that innovated by chasing snow storms and collected data in order to save lives not to mention tons of money from not having to plow as many tons of snow and ice. Airports use structures like these to keep runways open. There are even tumbleweed fences to keep the drifter off the roadways.
Months ago, as I drove through the are I noticed evergreen trees replacing some of the built structures/fences.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/01/snow_fences_how_do_they_work_what_are_they_where_did_they_come_from_photos.html
http://www.tablerassociates.com
Dan McNichol is a number-one bestselling author and an award-winning journalist. His published books, articles, thought-leadership papers and speaking events focus on mega construction projects in the United States and The Peoples Republic of China.
McNichol recently contributed to a front page story in The New York Times titled, “Trump-Sized Idea for a New President: Build Stuff”. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) / Boston Chapter named McNichol as one of nation’s outstanding journalists in 2014 and again in 2003. McNichol contributes to worldwide media outlets including: The New York Times, Engineering News Record (ENR), ABC World News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) network, China Central Television (CCTV), TV Tokyo, MSNBC and PBS’s The NewsHour, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, History Channel. McNichol is a frequent voice on National Public Radio (NPR).
ENR Magazine recently tapped McNichol as the magazine’s national correspondent for a cross country tour. McNichol and Aileen Cho, ENR’s senior transportation editor, drove in a 1949 Hudson Commodore with the tagline, “America’s infrastructure is as old, rusty and energy defunct as our original Detroit lead-sled.” The journalists wrote ENR print and online cover stories about the nation’s ailing infrastructure.
A former White House appointee, McNichol served the President on US policy issues surrounding transportation and infrastructure between 1991-1993. McNichol has worked in official capacities on the nation’s largest infrastructure projects: California High Speed Rail (2017), San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Replacement (2013) and The Big Dig, a.k.a. The Central Artery / Third Harbor Tunnel Project (2000).
