During strong winds, drifting snow causes problems on roads in many harsh winter climate countries. Increased snow-removal costs, reduced access and safety problems are typical results of excessive snowdrift sedimentation and bad visibility along many roads in the exposed regions. This paper introduces some of the results from a research program including numerical experiments and field surveys. The research was done to enhance knowledge on drifting snow behaviour on roads and to develop design criteria for better road and highway construction in mountainous areas and other areas where frequent snowfall and strong winds occur. The study is mainly based on CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and field measurements. Simulations of wind flow were compared to snow cover surveys from roads in Iceland and Norway and the results have been used to develop recommendations for engineers. An important goal for this study has been to use CFD to develop geometric relationships that can be applied in road planning. The results presented herein include guidelines to evaluate the efficiency of natural snow deposition zones and their equilibrium snowdrift capacity. Furthermore, an example of three-dimensional flow under a steep road cut is presented. A theoretical study on the performance of different guard rail profiles in drifting snow is also present. We conclude that CFD is a suitable tool for developing recommendations for road engineering in snow-drifting areas.