Road salt costs almost double this year

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December 4, 2008

BY BRIAN L. HUCHEL The Commercial-News Thu Dec 04, 2008, 09:39 PM CST

DANVILLE — High prices aren’t forcing a change for city and county highway departments headed into the winter season.

Highway departments are dealing with new high prices to purchase tons of road salt for the winter season. Both the city and county paid just more than $43 per ton last winter. This year, that cost has skyrocketed to more than $70 per ton.

Bob Scott, services and operations manager for Danville’s Public Works, said the price spike seen for Danville and Vermilion County isn’t as high as other places in Illinois.

“We feel almost fortunate that it only went from $40 to $73 dollars a ton,” he said. “Some counties are paying up to $150” per ton.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan launched an investigation in November into the reasons behind the spike in salt prices.

Doug Staske is going into his first winter as Vermilion County’s highway engineer. He said the county combines the road salt with sand in order to stretch their supplies. But that can’t be done along all of the county’s 150-plus miles of road.

The urban routes, he said, require straight road salt to be spread.

“We try to be frugal, but it’s an issue of safety,” Staske said. “We want to have enough material on the road.”

When utilized, the road salt and sand are mixed 50-50.

The county received its first shipment of 660 tons already and, following the recent snows, was considering another batch this week.

The first day of winter is Dec. 21, but Vermilion County already received its first measurable snowfall of the year this week. Totals ranged from 3 inches in the northern part of the county to almost 4 inches in the southern part.

The winter outlook, released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association in November, predicts near normal precipitation for east central Illinois and better than 40 percent chance of higher than average temperatures from December through February.

Scott estimates city trucks have spread close to 85 tons of salt in recent days to deal with the early winter weather. In preparation of the winter weather, the city has increased the amount of salt it can purchase from the state to 2,500 tons, Scott said.

To deal with the costs, the city is looking to other better ways to clear slick city thoroughfares.

Last year, a couple of trucks were rigged to spread calcium chloride. This year, the city is in the process of converting trucks to spread a salt brine liquid on the streets.

The material has several benefits, including staying on the road better where it lands and simply cost. The liquid only costs 37 cents per gallon.

In addition, the brine works for a longer period compared to road salt, giving the city a bigger window of time with which to work, Scott said.

Scott said brine should be in next week. Possible future plans include Danville buying its own brine making system, cutting the cost again to between 5 and 10 cents per gallon.

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