Normal: Cold Pavement (Warm Hearts)

I went to Hope College in Holland, Michigan, so this article about Holland's heated sidewalks and streets caught my attention. The heating feature was not in place when I was there, so I remember well what "lake effect snow" did to the sidewalks and streets. Can you imagine having clear pavement to walk and drive on even when it's snowing? The store owners don't have to spend time and money clearing the sidewalks and the city saves money by not having to plow and salt the main street through the business district. It's too bad that this feature wasn't added during the recent Uptown renovations. Retrofitting this kind of feature into existing pavement is probably so expensive that it would take many, many years to make up for the cost in what would be saved (the cost of salt, labor, and fixing potholes). Too bad. It would have been great.