Tired of raking sand out of your boulevard each spring, and dirtying up your clothes from brushing up against a muddy car? If all goes well, those days may be coming to an end.<\/p>\n
Something I’ve been waiting a long time for\u00a0has finally arrived! The City of Bismarck has announced that they will be testing a new ice prevention system, which will use either a salt\/beat mixture or potassium acetate compound to reduce ice buildup on our roads. As someone who spent four years living in Minneapolis, which has used salt and potassium acetate for years, I am a huge supporter of this switch, seeing first hand\u00a0its benefits.<\/p>\n
It all comes down to basic chemistry. I think everyone’s done\u00a0the freeze comparison experiment in school, which compared\u00a0how regular tap water and\u00a0salt water froze.\u00a0As you recall, the tap water froze solid, but the salt water remained no more than slush. The same result will happen when salt is spread on the streets. The liquid will have similar difficulty freezing, making our streets much safer. Although sand does help vehicles get better traction, it does little to actually reduce the ice.<\/p>\n
With this new method, if used properly, the city can actually spread the solution before the\u00a0storm even\u00a0arrives, preventing ice from forming in the first place. It also will help prevent snow from piling on the roads as it will melt when it makes contact with the solution. Of course, it won\u2019t 100% prevent either from collecting on our streets, but it does greatly reduce them.<\/p>\n
Aren’t you tired of raking sand out of your boulevards each spring, and dirtying up your clothes from brushing up against a muddy car? With salt, this won’t happen.<\/p>\n
Opponents\u00a0to salt\u00a0argue that it’s corrosive on both\u00a0cars and streets. It can’t be argued that salt is a corrosive material, however newer cars are coated to protect from harmful elements like salt, and even carry an anti-corrosion warranty\u00a0usually spanning 6-10 years. Cars are already exposed to other corrosive materials like oil on the streets, so\u00a0salt won’t\u00a0do much more harm.\u00a0I can tell you that in my time living in Minneapolis, I rarely saw rust on cars. Proper cleaning of vehicles in the spring time is all that’s needed to prolong rust. Even if there is an increased chance of rust, I feel it’s a better trade off to crashing, totaling\u00a0my car\u00a0and potentially becoming injured (or worse).<\/p>\n
What about the streets? Doesn’t salt contribute to their deterioration? The answer\u00a0– yes. But, as most people know, the ice itself is what mostly causes those infamous potholes on our streets. Most large cracks and potholes form when\u00a0water seeps into smaller cracks and then freezes. Without that ice forming on\u00a0our streets, the amount of potholes might actually be reduced.<\/p>\n
Another argument is\u00a0that salt costs more. This is indeed true up front, however many cities have conducted cost projection analyses comparing the long-term cost differences and found sand isn’t necessarily less expensive. Why? Because salt will breakdown and wash away in time, as sand must be swept off the streets each spring. It’s been determined that the extra costs to cleanup the sand balance out\u00a0its lower price tag.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the best way to prevent crashes comes from the driver itself. Slow down, increase your stopping distance, and pay attention on icy roads. Remember, four-wheel drive and electronic traction control systems help give traction when going, but does nothing to help stopping.<\/p>\n