Snot Bridge

That got your attention, didn’t it?

I experienced a ‘snot bridge’ this morning.

You see, I know that bridges are often slippery – the lack of insulation makes them freeze before the rest of the road. I always hold the wheel a little tighter when I approach a bridge on a cold and blustery day.

This morning was definitely cold and blustery.

As I was crawling across a very long bridge, I peered through the snowy haze to see if I could see the hold-up.

I saw cars slowing well ahead, and presumed there was an accident. It seemed to be a clear bottleneck. Everyone was slowing down an a smaller bridge, then able to resume speeds just beyond.

Yet, there was no obvious accident anywhere.

I was only going about 5 or 10 mph when I arrived at the bridge.

Cars were obviously slowing down on the bridge. But why?

The millisecond my wheels crossed onto the bridge, I knew why.

The minivan to my right started wiggling all over. My own tires started to spin.

The surface of the bridge was covered by a layer of what can only be described as snow-snot. It was that viscous, uber-slippery, not-slush that a person in crampons can’t even walk on without slipping.

My car is a front-wheel drive, standard transmission, with snow tires, and I was having a hard time keeping the car inside my lane. There were big-rigs, vans, pickups, everything in three lanes bumper to bumper, all slipping around.

Truthfully, I’m amazed there wasn’t an accident there.

I’m grateful the bridge was short. I’m glad everyone was paying attention. I am so glad that we were all going slowly already.

So, um…. When’s Spring?