Road salt isn’t the ‘perfect solution’ to winter woes: expert
Posted January 7, 2017 10:40 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PORTLAND, Oregon (NEWS 1130) – It is something people have literally been fighting over in Vancouver: road salt.
But the sodium chloride isn’t always a perfect solution to keeping snow and ice off the roads. Especially while the snow is falling.
“Everybody that gets stuck in a storm wants salt to be laid down immediately. That sounds like people think it’s a panacea, that it will just cure anything,” says Dave Thompson with the Oregon Department of Transportation.
“It’s not the panacea that if you just throw down salt, everything is going to be fine, you can travel at any time. It just doesn’t work like that.”
That’s especially true while the snow is still falling according to Thompson.
“While the storm is raging, it won’t do you a darn bit of good,” he explains. “The road is still going to be a mess because of the wind and the increased precipitation. As snow falls or as ice forms, salt, sand or anything else you put down does have an effect briefly.”
Pre-treating roads isn’t bad, but there will have to be a second coating once the snow stops falling. And Mother Nature will alway win during a storm.
“It’s what happens after the storm, how fast can you get back to travel conditions that are safe. That’s where salt might play an additional role in limited use.”
