I haven't seen "steps to make bicycle commuting more friendly" in my city.

Maybe people don't want to bike on ice in -5F weather :P

I do. Dress warm and live in a place that aggressively salts when possible. While road salt is ineffective in extreme cold, snowfalls are pretty rare at those temperatures too. I can generally bike right through the winter here in Hamilton, Canada.

Even with salt though, you wind up with sludge on the sides of the road (i.e. the bike lane).

Kudos to you, by the way.