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It is winter time here in South Central Pennsylvania. We’ve already seen snow and freezing rain and more is to come. That means that you will have to drive when the weather gets bad at some point which means your vehicle will be exposed to the road salt and salt brine that PennDOT puts down to help keep the roads clear and as safe as possible. If your vehicle has been treated with a Krown undercoating you can drive with confidence knowing that your vehicle will not be susceptible to the corrosive effects of this during and after a snow event. Just how much of this is put down on the roads by PennDOT and what alternatives does it have?
A Big Job For PennDOT
For this winter PennDOT has budgeted $233 million to keep the 40,000 miles of state highways and 25,000 bridges in the state cleared of snow and safe to drive on. 4,500 workers are available to do this in more than 2,200 trucks. Last winter PennDOT used 922,000 tons of road salt and 602,000 tons of anti-skid materials like salt brine. In total 11.6 million gallons of salt brine was used last winter. We don’t intend this to hate on PennDOT. They have a big job to do when it comes to keeping the roads clear and they are doing the best that they can to do it.
Salt brine is gaining popularity. The cost of one ton of road salt is about $68 per ton whereas anti-skid materials cost about $22 per ton. The state also has 66 facilities within the state that are capable of making salt brine and the end product cost 18 cents per gallon. This is about as cost effective solution as is available on the market and it is in compliance with nationwide best practices.
Using A Corrosive Material
We have been over the corrosive effects that this material can have on your vehicle, both during and after a snow event. For many years PennDOT maintained that these materials were not causing any problems but officials may be beginning to change their tune. They may have suspected for some time as they commissioned a study to search for alternatives in 2015 which was completed in April 2019.
Now of course PennDOT is not alone in the use of road salt and salt brine as 23 million tons of it are used nationwide during the winter. But this road salt has been found to be damaging to the environment, damaging to infrastructure like roads and bridges and the salt is finding its way into the drinking water supply. In states that use salt a noticeable increase in chloride, one of the main components of salt, was found in lakes and this has the potential to make these water systems undrinkable by 2050.
Alternatives To Salt
Other states have been trying to tackle this issue. Some states, like our neighbors in New Jersey have begun using brine developed from beets. In one county in Wisconsin a cheese brine solution has been introduced. While salt there has not been completely eliminated cheese comes at a cheaper price and the environmental impacts have been noticeably lessened. Maine and Vermont have even introduced a molasses-based brine. Other creative solutions include pickle brine and waste left over after brewing beer. These solutions have been found to be just as effective (or in some cases more effective) at de-icing with much less environmental impact.
Now of course not all of these are possible nor have they been perfected. In North Dakota a beet brine was introduced and it made the roads smell like soy sauce. Molasses produces an ugly brownish color and has the potential to attract deer to the roadway thereby increasing the number of potential collisions. There is also worry that the residue might rub off onto people’s shoes and be tracked inside but that may be offset by its strong sweet smell, described as cookies baking in grandma’s oven.
Why Is PennDOT Still Using Salt?
With these other solutions potentially in hand, why is PennDOT still sticking with rock salt and salt brine for this winter? In a way they are in a no win situation at this point. They know that there is a problem but they can’t simply stop clearing the roads when it snows. More expensive materials may work better but the expense of that will also be passed onto the taxpayer, and many taxpayers are loathe to see that happen. Salt right now is the cheapest product to use. A ton of molasses brine costs $92 per ton though beet brine is catching up to salt brine when it comes to cost according to Missouri DOT. PennDOT for now is sticking with what they know and there may be a good reason for that.
Will PennDOT change it’s material? It very well might, just not yet. If other materials become cheaper to use and prove to be just as effective or even more effective like beet brine there will be no reason not to switch. It’s just not happening this winter so that makes a Krown undercoating even more necessary. If PennDOT is going to change materials it will trial the new material first in one area so it will be several years before it happens, just like they did with the salt brine back in 1996. In fact PennDOT has trialed beet brine back in 2014 but did not adopt it since it clogged the nozzles of the sprayers despite finding that it was even more effective.
About LINE-X and Krown of South Central Pennsylvania
LINE-X and Krown of South Central Pennsylvania is the leader in vehicle undercoating protection using Krown products and truck bedliners using LINE-X spray-on bedliners. We serve York County to help maintain and extend the life of vehicles. If you are in York or Yorkana, Hanover or Hametown, Delta or Davidsburg or any point in between stop in at our Vogelsong Road location to see what we can do to protect your vehicle. No one knows protection better than LINE-X and Krown and the premium performance and exceptional value that they bring.