Cold-weather states across the country will need hundreds of thousands of tons of salt to keep roads and highways safe this winter. But prices are running two and three times higher than last year, forcing some states and municipalities to make do with less.
Road maintenance crews used a near-record 20.3 million tons of road salt last year because of heavier snowfall from the Northeast to the Midwest. State and local transportation authorities tapped into stockpiles that normally would have been available this winter, causing shortages that have bumped up demand—and prices—dramatically.
Even with the higher prices, road salt sales in the first six months of 2008 already are up 20% from last year and are expected to set a record this year, said Dick Hanneman, president of the Salt Institute, a trade group that represents suppliers.
Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan were hit especially hard by last winter’s snowstorms, and they sought to buy a total of nearly 2 million tons of road salt over the summer.
The higher prices have forced some state and local governments to rethink their plans for the winter.
The Wisconsin transportation department, for example, is changing the way it clears roadways, leaving salting as the last resort, said David Vieth, director of the Bureau of Highway Operations for Wisconsin. Crews will first plow, then spray a de-icier before the snow sticks and another chemical once snow begins accumulating. The state cannot afford to have salt bounce off the road and end up wasted in a drain or sewer system, he said.
State departments of transportation—most of which secured salt contracts this summer—buy far more tons of salt than local communities and can usually negotiate better prices, said Salt Institute President Dick Hanneman. Most states have secured enough to cover state roads, but many smaller cities and counties have not.
