I am responding to a past editorial about saving money by using just salt on the roads. I would like to know how much salt costs per ton as compared to a salt and sand mixture and how much it costs to sweep the roads. Yes, the salt is not left on the roadways. I was mowing for the first time this spring and I could see a film of white on the shoulders of the road. After the rain, the film was gone. So where does it go?
Mass. Highway has a wet and black motto for the roads. They plow the state highways just about nonstop to keep them safe. Vehicles try to go just as fast as if it was not snowing. Sometimes it works. But this last snow storm, it didn’t. A lot of town highway departments are following the Mass. Highway trend, but they are not plowing nonstop.
Here are a few questions we need to ask ourselves. Are the roads safer with just salt or with a sand salt mixture? Also, when the highway maintainers say salt is cheaper, do they figure in what straight salt does to the highway and other infrastructure — bridges, drainage systems, manholes, catch basins, pipes and fire hydrants? How does the salt affect all the vehicles that use the roadways? Last, but not least, what does all this salt do to our ecosystems? Take a look at the evergreen trees turning brown on the sides of the road that are treated with just salt. How does it affect the brooks and the ground water that we all depend upon? So is salt more cost-effective?
ROGER SADOSKI
South Deerfield