Well, the statement was "even moderate traffic will shred a highway" and the only highway is the Alcan (which is not driven so much in the winter) so urban roadways get driven a lot, 6 months of carbide studs daily (think Anchorage/Fairbanks) should be reduced to gravel by this time?The entire state of Alaska is 3/4 of a million. Toronto metro area is more than 6 million.
No question that carbide studs do damage roadways but not as much as you might think.