"Compact snow and ice" is a familiar cautionary refrain to winter drivers, but in Seattle, it's apparently what city road crews are striving for.

The Seattle Times has a story about this today, quoting a city transportation official as saying that the goal in hilly Seattle is "a hard-packed surface" of snow and ice. From the story:

The icy streets are the result of Seattle's refusal to use salt, an effective ice-buster used by the state Department of Transportation and cities accustomed to dealing with heavy winter snows.

"If we were using salt, you'd see patches of bare road because salt is very effective," Wiggins said. "We decided not to utilize salt because it's not a healthy addition to Puget Sound."

No word on whether auto-body shops are viewing this as an economic stimulus plan.

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