Rising salt prices challenge VDOT

By CAMERON STEELE

As the thermometer drops, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and local officials are turning their attention to rising salt prices.

Road salt costs two to three more times what it did last year. That is in part because heavy snowfalls left transportation departments across the country tapped out at the end of winter, said the Salt Institute, an industry trade organization.

And higher salt prices could create problems for Rockbridge County, which with its mountain terrain can never ignore the possibility of a snowy winter, said Robert Foresman, county emergency management and hazardous material coordinator. Foresman, who was recently voted Public Servant of the Year by Rockbridge County residents for his work as emergency coordinator, said the county primarily relies on a salt and gravel mixture to keep the interstates and local roads clear.

But, Foresman noted, there’s a new process available, as road crews across the country change the way they clear the highways in a preemptive effort to avoid bank-breaking expenses. Instead of using salt after the fact, he said, road crews “can spray a liquid onto the roadways prior to an event, whether it be snow or ice, which helps to limit the amount of accumulation.”

VDOT calls this process “anti-icing.” The crews combine liquid magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, and salt to make the special brine solution. The liquid can be used only if pavement temperature is above 25 degrees Fahrenheit at the time of application, because the chemicals could freeze  on the road if they are used at colder temperatures.

VDOT Commissioner David Ekern discussed the new technique in an interview earlier this year. In November, Ekern told a Washington, D.C., radio station that VDOT had decided at the end of last year to seek a new method of treating the roads. The anti-icing technique was used by Idaho’s highways department when Ekern  headed that department.

VDOT plans to use new tanker trucks to spray the solution on highways I-81 and I-64. Drivers may want to stay back from the new trucks, though: Officials say the substance will stick to cars, and is harder to wash off than regular salt.  

Foresman said he’s confident that a combination of preventive anti-icing, plowing and road salt will help keep most roads clear at a relatively low cost. But he thinks the higher salt prices could cause some of Rockbridge County’s less-trafficked, potentially hazardous roads to be overlooked. “Your secondary roads are going to be the last they get to [clear],” Foresman said.

VDOT, meanwhile, has less money  to deal with higher costs.  Last year, VDOT spent a little more than $80.5 million on snow preparation and removal costs. For the 2008-2009 year, the department has just under $76 million allotted for winter weather operations.

But Foresman doesn’t think there’s reason to worry.

“I’m sure that, if need be, the state will increase the money, should it be very snowy weather, because they understand that it’s critical to keep the interstates open,” he said.

Robert Foresman talks about the problems that higher salt prices could create for Rockbridge County

Produced by
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Prof. Indira Somani

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