As I write this, we are going into a Snow Emergency Plan.  The trucks are out pretreating roads and will be plowing and deicing as the storm progresses.  Frederick County's Highway Operations manages these efforts on county roads.  HOps, as we call them, works to keep the roads clear while reducing the use of salt.  HOps recently announced that it installed new equipment to pretreat roads with sodium chloride brine. The purpose of the brine is to reduce the amount of rock salt used on the roads while providing a more thorough coverage for deicing. Our main highway yard and satellite facilities also have tanks of a liquid pretreatment material called caliber, which is made from magnesium chloride. Another best practice is the use of anti-skid material that provides traction on the roads. Our local quarries produce a crushed gravel product that works for this purpose. The HOps uses a street sweeper to collect salt from roads and bridge decks after the threat of winter storms has passed. Check out a recent article in Frederick News-Post's Green page on this topic.

Stay warm this Winter and remember that Spring is not far behind!