Published: October 04, 2008 07:49 pm      

Salt shortage could create slippery winter

PRINCETON — A nationwide shortage of salt has left local highway officials hoping for a mild winter.

The salt shortage, combined with higher gas prices, are forcing local highway crews to take a second look at how they respond to winter storms.

“We are going to have to pay a lot closer attention to the forecast and be very diligent as to how we use the materials,” West Virginia Secretary of Transportation Paul Mattox said. “We use to go out and salt in flurries. We may not be able to do that now.”

Mattox said highway officials also are looking at mixing calcium to help pre-wet the salt, and other combinations to help reduce salt usage.

Mattox, who addressed the issue during a meeting of the West Virginia Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority board in Bluefield last week, said the salt shortage isn’t limited just to West Virginia, and Department of Highway offices in Princeton, Beckley and Charleston. Mattox said the shortage has impacted much of the nation.

Mattox said a hard winter last year in the Midwest taxed supplies and salt suppliers are now having a hard time meeting demand. As a result, Mattox said highway crews will have to prioritize interstates and primary highway corridors first when responding to winter storms this year.

However, Mattox said highway crews across the state are still ready and properly equipped for winter.

“We pretty much have on hand enough to get through what we think to be a normal winter,” Mattox said.

However, an extremely bad winter could create problems. Salt suppliers have indicated the shortage of salt will remain a problem throughout the winter, and could continue into the winter of 2010, Turnpike Authority Manager Greg Bar said.

Barr said the Parkways Authority didn’t bid out a contract for roadway salt this year, but is rather piggybacking upon the Department of Highway’s contract in order to receive better volume pricing.

According to a report by Barr, turnpike bins currently have 11,000 tons of salt on hand from last winter. The average annual salt usage by the turnpike has been 15,000 tons. Barr said the DOH allocated 15,00 tons of salt for turnpike usage. However, when bids were received, only 2,900 tons were available for turnpike usage.

Barr said the turnpike authority is purchasing additional abrasives, and will use more calcium to pre-wet the salt in order to have a reduction in salt usage.

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com