The Associated Press reports:
From Maine, to Iowa and Wisconsin, the unusually
snowy winter means dozens of communities face dwindling salt supplies
and blown snow removal budgets.
These cities — many already cash-strapped — are
trying to find ways to buy more supplies, or make do with what they
have left by mixing salt with sand or selectively salting high-traffic
intersections.
The country spends billions a year to clear
roads during the winter, said Dick Hanneman, president of the Salt
Institute, the trade association of salt producers. Snow removal — he
calls it "snow fighting" — is the largest single expenditure in
communities' public works budgets, said Hanneman, who is also a member
of the winter maintenance committee for the Transportation Research
Board, an arm of the National Academies of Science.
It's above building roads and maintaining bridges, which are often supplemented by federal and state dollars.
It's not even about how much snow falls,
although that's been a big deal this year. It's more about how often,
because of a desire to put down salt no matter how much snow is
falling, he said.
Communities typically buy thousands of tons of
salt well ahead of winter, when salt is less expensive and easier to
transport. In 2006, the nation spent some $307.8 million on about 12
million tons of highway salt, according to the latest numbers available
by the Salt Institute.
Here are some FAQs about highway salt.
