Blog Post from Salt Institute

How much does a snow day cost?

March 2, 2009

Bruce Watson writing in DailyFinance.com asks this highly-pertinent question as snowfalls forced cancelations and postponements throughout the Washington metro area and beyond. Watson's quest: to measure "the overall economic cost of a few inches of snow." Watson reports:

(A) month ago, when Europe was crushed by a massive snowstorm, newspapers quickly began to assess the cost of the unplanned holiday. The storm, which some hailed as the worst in twenty years, shut down highways, airports, and rail yards, killing business and leading many Brits to question whether the country, which had famously worked throughout the London Blitz, had lost its resolve.

Initial estimates, which placed the price at millions of dollars, were quickly revised upward. One in five people stayed home from work, decimating productivity. Ultimately, the cost in lost wages and business were pegged at somewhere in the neighborhood of $4.3 billion.

Salt Sensibility readers will remember last winter's $22 billion debacle in China.

Fortunately, we have an answer for Mr. Watson, as we posted on his website:

Great question: quantifying the benefits of snowfighting since snow & ice removal is the single largest public works expense for most snowbelt communities.

The Salt Institute has gathered the relevant data at http://www.saltinstitute.org/Uses-benefits/Winter-road-safety/Benefits-of-road-salt/Mobility.

Bottom line: if an agency fails to perform effective winter maintenance, the resulting gridlock for a single day will impose a greater economic cost on the local economy than the total snowfighting budget in that community for an entire winter.

Thanks for the opportunity to spread the word.