Road Agencies Consider Environmental Impact When Winter Salting

snowy-road-safe
snowy-road-safe

As the winter arrives and snow is more likely, road agencies across Michigan are preparing for seasonal maintenance. The Oakland County Road Commission’s Craig Bryson tells WSJM News the technology behind road salting is evolving as extra substances are added to the salt to help protect the environment.

“We have liquid brine tanks on all of our trucks now, and we literally spray the liquid brine on to the rock salt as it’s coming out of the truck, which moisturizes the salt,” Bryson said. “It causes it to activate much more quickly.”

Bryson says salt can be harmful to native plants and can get into the water table when used heavily.

“We are very sensitive of that. We are very aware of that. Salt in the environment is a concern. The challenge for us, though, is there is no other product available as cost effectively as salt that literally melts snow and ice.”

Bryson says the Oakland County Road Commission uses around 64,000 tons of salt in a given winter. Over there, they never mix it with sand due to the storm sewer systems they use. How road commissions apply salt can vary based on the time of day, the day of the week, and the temperature.