Slow down - that's the message from county and town crews as they deal with what's left from Old Man Winter and a salt shortage to boot.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Town of Sennett Highway Superintendent Jim Smith stands in the town's indoor salt storage shed Tuesday afternoon. Most of the town's remaining road salt supply has been mixed with sand, which is less effective in keeping roads clear than using salt alone.
Town of Sennett Highway Superintendent Jim Smith stands in the town's indoor salt storage shed Tuesday afternoon. Most of the town's remaining road salt supply has been mixed with sand, which is less effective in keeping roads clear than using salt alone.
There's a countywide salt shortage that's going to make it difficult to deal with icy roads, at least for the next couple of weeks.
George Wethey, Cayuga County highway superintendent, said the situation was not good.
“If we get quite a bit of this event, people won't know how to drive on it,” he said prior to Tuesday night's precipitation. “The mix won't melt as hot, and so they will have to adjust their driving.
“We have limited quantities of salt on hand, so we are mixing abrasives in with the salt and sand,” he said.
He believed the salt providers were allocating it and spreading it among the municipalities.
“Generally,” Wethey said, “there has been icing statewide that has used up the quantities of salt on hand, so the salt companies were limited with what they could produce.”
Even the state DOT, according to Wethey, is putting sand and abrasives into its salt on state roads in order to get more mileage out of it.
Mark Klein, communications director at Cargill Salt, in Lansing, said there was no salt shortage.
“There's been a lot of bad weather, so there was an increase in demand,” he said, “so there's been a delay. We're working extended hours but it's been hard to keep up with orders. It's been a bad winter in general. What you're going through now is an example of it. We're trying to fill orders in the most expeditious way.”
James Smith, town highway supervisor for the town of Sennett, said that his salt supply was running low.
“I put in an order for 300 tons from Cargill Salt in Lansing, but they don't have any made,” Smith said. “We're hurting here in Cayuga County.”
Smith said he would be mixing sand with the remaining salt and chemicals, but it doesn't work so well on the ice.
Ron Walter, Scipio highway superintendent, said everybody was worried about salt, but he just got 25 tons from Cargill.
“I had to wait for it a few days. Everybody's waiting their turn, I guess,” he said.
Scipio only plows about 39 or 40 miles of secondary roads, so they've always mixed their salt with sand and cinders.
Jim Card, highway superintendent for Skaneateles, said they are mixing sand with salt. He said Onondaga County has two suppliers, Cargill Salt, in Lansing and American Salt, of Rochester.
“We had a meeting with Onondaga County yesterday,” Card said, “to determine what the situation was, but no one really had any answers. We were trying to get a confirmed answer.”
Card said he'd heard a lot of different explanations why there wasn't enough salt and even if any more would be produced.
“Some people said the salt contracts had been fulfilled and the salt suppliers couldn't sell any more,” he said. “It's very confusing. ”Everybody has agreed if we have enough salt amongst us to get through the winter, then that's what we're going to do.“
He said various municipalities had started calling the salt companies looking to reload, but were told they couldn't.
“You'd think that if they'd fulfilled their contracts at a specific price that they'd just say you can have it at a new price, but they didn't,” Card said. “There's a lot of stories out there. I don't think anybody knows what the truth is.”
He noted when some drivers went to pick up new loads, there was little salt on the pads.
Cargill Salt provides bulk deicing salt, the most commonly used white rock salt recommended for cost effective road deicing. Its enhanced deicer provides increased value by requiring less salt usage per lane mile and providing corrosion protection to user equipment.
It contains rock salt mixed with liquid magnesium chloride and a PNS approved corrosion inhibitor. The salt is taken from underground bedded salt deposits by physical mining. The salt is drilled, blasted with explosives, crushed, screened, and hoisted to the surface, where it is stockpiled, waiting to be distributed to highway departments.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext 238 or
kathleen.barran@lee.net
George Wethey, Cayuga County highway superintendent, said the situation was not good.
“If we get quite a bit of this event, people won't know how to drive on it,” he said prior to Tuesday night's precipitation. “The mix won't melt as hot, and so they will have to adjust their driving.
“We have limited quantities of salt on hand, so we are mixing abrasives in with the salt and sand,” he said.
He believed the salt providers were allocating it and spreading it among the municipalities.
“Generally,” Wethey said, “there has been icing statewide that has used up the quantities of salt on hand, so the salt companies were limited with what they could produce.”
Even the state DOT, according to Wethey, is putting sand and abrasives into its salt on state roads in order to get more mileage out of it.
Mark Klein, communications director at Cargill Salt, in Lansing, said there was no salt shortage.
“There's been a lot of bad weather, so there was an increase in demand,” he said, “so there's been a delay. We're working extended hours but it's been hard to keep up with orders. It's been a bad winter in general. What you're going through now is an example of it. We're trying to fill orders in the most expeditious way.”
James Smith, town highway supervisor for the town of Sennett, said that his salt supply was running low.
“I put in an order for 300 tons from Cargill Salt in Lansing, but they don't have any made,” Smith said. “We're hurting here in Cayuga County.”
Smith said he would be mixing sand with the remaining salt and chemicals, but it doesn't work so well on the ice.
Ron Walter, Scipio highway superintendent, said everybody was worried about salt, but he just got 25 tons from Cargill.
“I had to wait for it a few days. Everybody's waiting their turn, I guess,” he said.
Scipio only plows about 39 or 40 miles of secondary roads, so they've always mixed their salt with sand and cinders.
Jim Card, highway superintendent for Skaneateles, said they are mixing sand with salt. He said Onondaga County has two suppliers, Cargill Salt, in Lansing and American Salt, of Rochester.
“We had a meeting with Onondaga County yesterday,” Card said, “to determine what the situation was, but no one really had any answers. We were trying to get a confirmed answer.”
Card said he'd heard a lot of different explanations why there wasn't enough salt and even if any more would be produced.
“Some people said the salt contracts had been fulfilled and the salt suppliers couldn't sell any more,” he said. “It's very confusing. ”Everybody has agreed if we have enough salt amongst us to get through the winter, then that's what we're going to do.“
He said various municipalities had started calling the salt companies looking to reload, but were told they couldn't.
“You'd think that if they'd fulfilled their contracts at a specific price that they'd just say you can have it at a new price, but they didn't,” Card said. “There's a lot of stories out there. I don't think anybody knows what the truth is.”
He noted when some drivers went to pick up new loads, there was little salt on the pads.
Cargill Salt provides bulk deicing salt, the most commonly used white rock salt recommended for cost effective road deicing. Its enhanced deicer provides increased value by requiring less salt usage per lane mile and providing corrosion protection to user equipment.
It contains rock salt mixed with liquid magnesium chloride and a PNS approved corrosion inhibitor. The salt is taken from underground bedded salt deposits by physical mining. The salt is drilled, blasted with explosives, crushed, screened, and hoisted to the surface, where it is stockpiled, waiting to be distributed to highway departments.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext 238 or
kathleen.barran@lee.net
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hmmmm wrote on Mar 5, 2008 1:52 PM:
Sheesh hope you learn from this mistake and order more threw summer months it wont go to waste "