Chain Enforcement on I-90, Is there a better way?

Does anyone know if they are still requiring 4WD/AWD vehicles of less than 10,000 lbs GVW to carry chains when chains are required for non 4WD/AWD vehicles?  I heard they were a few years ago.  We are headed up for the Marmot Demo Night and chains are currently required on all vehicles except 4WD/AWD.  I don't want to go buy chains, but I don't want to get turned around either.

Thanks,
Robert ???

If you have an AWD buy some cheap chains to satisfy any requirements you may run into.  Plus you may need them:  I've NEVER needed chains on an uphill with my suby, but when you get to downhill doesn't matter what kind of car you have or suv:  all slide equally on the down hill.  There is absolutely no difference between the types once the brakes are applied.

If you have a 4WD you NEED to have chains. 4WD's don't turn all 4 wheels and are vastly inferior on onsnow performance.  Posi-traction is the only other really kickass climbing machine.  

I don't mean to be trolling as far as blasting the overall poor performance of 4WD's but my experience does back it up.  Besides growing up in Montana I worked for a year at Schweitzer during a 500 inch season.  The 2500 ft switchback climb was a hassel all winter.  More than a dozen times during heavy snowfall I and my AWD companions went up the road without a slip or hitch while 98% of the 4WD's were forced to chain up to get anywhere.

-savegondor

[quote

If you have a 4WD you NEED to have chains. 4WD's don't turn all 4 wheels and are vastly inferior on onsnow performance.  Posi-traction is the only other really kickass climbing machine.  

I don't mean to be trolling as far as blasting the overall poor performance of 4WD's but my experience does back it up.  Besides growing up in Montana I worked for a year at Schweitzer during a 500 inch season.  The 2500 ft switchback climb was a hassel all winter.  More than a dozen times during heavy snowfall I and my AWD companions went up the road without a slip or hitch while 98% of the 4WD's were forced to chain up to get anywhere

Huh?

The problems on the pass are most often driver related rather then vehicle. A Subaru or what ever is no better then any other AWD car. It's just cheaper. That thinking is one of the reasons for the current chain requirement. Yes it's bothersome and a potential revenue source for the state tax collectors (WSP). But it also addresses the lack of common sense people exhibit while driving today. Places like Montana have experienced the same problem with the influx of new people into the state. People just didn't grow up driving in the conditions like they once did.

True that:

AWD are basically all the same. In Sandpoint it was all Subys for the exact reason you stated: cheap. In fact, most of the suby's were early 90's.

It would cost the State alot but I don't think it would be unreasonable for driver's tests and driver's ed to include a "slick course" with simulated snow or ice.

Funny story: My driver's ed instructor apparently thought that learning to recover in slick conditions was important enough that he would grab the wheel from the passenger's side and yank us poor 15 year olds off the road to practice not "oversteering". But then that was Montana, and that guy probably had psych issues.

There's simply no substitute for playing around in any snowy parking lot.