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Japan's Clever Anti-Snow Roadways

Shosetsu FTW

By Rain Noe - March 6

in Urbanism

Niigata, Japan gets a lot of snow. Way back in the 1960s, they figured out a way to keep the roads clear of snow without requiring plows. Groundwater warmed by geothermal heat is pumped through a network of pipes below the road surface, and sprayed onto the asphalt using sprinklers:

The system is called shosetsu. Because the warmed water flows along the grade of the roads, it doesn't freeze and turn into ice—at least in Niigata, where the temperatures don't often dip below the freezing point. (Icy Hokkaido, where the system is not in use, would be a different story.)

Niigata reportedly has some 571 kilometers (355 miles) of roadways equipped with shosetsu.

It's better on cars than salt.

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Christian Lockenwitz

2 days ago

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I've always thought Reykjavik, Iceland's system of heated sidewalks and roadways was a great idea for areas with easy access to geothermal heating. I believe it works in a closed loop, a bit like central heating in a house.
Not sure how it stacks up against Niigata's system, which seems to be considerably larger in scale, but also expends a fair amount of water, you'd assume. Which is not necessarily ideal..?

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Alan Nomoto

3 days ago

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My city had a very long history of avoiding salt on our roadways. All it took was one snowstorm, an inadequate plow response, politics & people with less than adequate driving skills to rust out our cars. My friends from back east used to marvel at our vintage cars running around. Not no mo...

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