Driver Ed Zarpentine dumps another load of salt into a spreader under the watchful eyes of Parma Highway Superintendent Brian Speer. The salt has been sprayed with MAGIC, an additive that enhances salt effectiveness and reduces corrosion, and which makes the substance brown. According to Speer, the department has used about 3,000 tons of salt this season, which is more than was used last year at this time. Photograph for Westside News Inc. by Walter Horylev.

Highway supers urge caution in winter driving

This snowy winter season has left many residents weary of shoveling driveways, trudging through parking lots and hopping snow banks. The early and consistent snowfall makes it seem as though winter should be almost over, and yet it’s just barely the end of January.

Area highway superintendents are watching the weather extra closely this year because they’re conscious of a potential road salt shortage. Difficulties at regional salt mines have caused salt price increases, longer waits for delivery and the uncertainty that if the winter continues as it has started, if enough salt will be available.

Many highway departments have begun to conserve their salt stock. The Town of Sweden has 1,100 tons of salt stockpiled. Mixing some of it with sand will help stretch it. That’s enough to get through a month, maybe, according to Highway Supervisor Craig Smith. Typically, the Town of Sweden uses 3,200-3,800 tons of salt per season. Already this season the highway department has used 3,000 tons.

To conserve salt, Smith said his crews are shortening up the distance they apply salt at intersections, on hills and curves. Normally, the town applies salt 500-600 feet in each direction from an intersection. That distance has been shortened by a couple of hundred feet, Smith said. The same is true for the approaches to curves and hills. Those areas are still salted, but the distance has been shortened.

"If I try to use salt like we usually do," Smith said, "then I might get into a situation where I don’t have enough to make it through the winter."

The best thing motorists can do is slow down and adjust speed to the road conditions, Smith said. "We’re not going to be able to keep the roads as bare as drivers are used to having."

In Ogden, Highway Supervisor Dave Widger has 2,000 tons of salt stockpiled. He doesn’t mix any sand into the salt because the town has too many closed drain systems.

Widger’s crews have begun to cut down salt use on less traveled roads. And no salt is being spread in subdivisions – just the entrances to the subdivision. Ogden has increased the amount of plowing it normally does to try to counter the effects of less salt.

"This year is similar to the year the salt mine (Akzo) collapsed," Widger said. "We’re not sure what the availability of salt will be.There’s been high salt usage this season, not just here, but across the country. Drivers need to pay more attention to road conditions."

Kendall Highway Supervisor Warren Kruger has 200 tons of salt stockpiled. Because his territory is rural with no drain systems to worry about, he mixes 25 percent salt with 75 percent sand. That will stretch his salt pile to 800 tons of mix.

"We had a hard time getting salt at the beginning of the season," Kruger said. "It makes mixing the salt and sand more difficult now, it takes extra work because it gets clumpy." Kruger also used the salt additive Ice Ban that boosts the performance of salt.

Kruger looks for 110-120 inches of snow per year in Kendall. If the December and January snow fall rates continue, he could be looking at higher numbers this season. He, too, urges drivers to be more cautious and be aware that roads may be snowier or icier than normal.

The Village of Brockport uses an average of 600 tons of salt for a winter. Department of Public Works Superintendent Fred Perrine discovered in November that Brockport had been inadvertently left off the state bid list for road salt this year. Normally that would not be a problem, Perrine said, because the state could correct the error and Brockport could then purchase salt at the state bid level. However, because of production problems, salt mines have not been required to serve any customer not on the original state bid list.

Brockport has had to purchase salt from another supplier at $3 more per ton. The village declared an emergency situation in December, allowing the municipality to do that without going through a formal bid process.

Last week Chili announced a road salt conservation plan. "The town will continue to keep our roads open and clear of snow," said Chili Supervisor Steve Hendershott. "However, in order to accomplish that through the remainder of the winter, we are going to have to make some adjustments to the way in which we clear the roads and in our driving habits."

The measures include salt not being spread as heavily as is normal on the shoulders and edges of roads. Also, sand is being mixed with salt for application on roads in more rural parts of Chili. Hendershott called for drivers to slow their speed and increase their caution.