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Monday,
December 20, 2004 |
Keene plans to use new de-icing
road mixture
News Brief: KEENE - The city Department
of Public Works is trying a new technique to make roads
safer this winter, using a solution that looks like
coffee and smells like molasses: "magic salt."
The special concoction is designed to
melt ice and snow faster and at lower temperatures than
road salt can do, last longer on the road, and be less
corrosive. It's also biodegradable.
It's also less expensive. Salt costs $40
a ton, said Bruce Tatro, Keene highway superintendent,
and Keene uses about 5,000 tons per winter.
"Magic salt" costs more,
about $62 a ton, but the city will probably only use about
2,200 tons about $64,000 less.
The experiment is a first for Keene and
for the spraying company, N.H. Ice Melt of Manchester.
The magic salt "saves crews from
being out at 2 a.m.," Tatro said. "When it's
done ahead of time, we're not trying to play catch-up."
- The Associated Press |
