Chloride Free Snow and Ice Control Material

The City of Burnsville requested that the Local Road Research Board (LRRB) fund a review of areas within winter maintenance that might lead to lower salt (chloride) use. An advisory team of 9 members was assembled to direct and review the research and reports of this project. Rock salt is the most common deicer used for winter maintenance in Minnesota. It is affordable and effective but causes damage to lakes, rivers and groundwater. With the growing concern around high chloride levels in Minnesota’s water, the question was asked: “What are the alternatives?” An additional requirement of the contract was to make the report useful to the maintenance supervisor or non-scientist who might be searching for alternatives to road salt. The City of Burnsville and advisory team expressed through the contract and at the first team meeting that the report should include concrete recommendations for further research and/or implementation. The group started with multiple category headings provided by the LRRB, and selected four key aspects to focus upon. Two areas proposed by the LRRB were combined to create Research Area 2. This report is divided into these three stand-alone sections: Research Area 1 - Non-Chloride Deicers; Research Area 2 - Task 2a - Permeable Road Surfaces and Task 2b - Pavement texture, color, material options that would provide better melting or traction; Research Area 3 - Winter speed limits or other winter driving changes. Fortin Consulting, Inc. (FCI) performed an internet literature review, worked with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) library research services and conducted email and phone interviews to gather information. FCI produced an intermediate version of research findings from each Research Area and provided this for review by the advisory team. Then a final approved version was created for posting on the LRRB website. The final version is presented in this Transportation Research Synthesis.

• Record URL:
  http://www.dot.state.mn.us/research/TRS/2015/TRS1411.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Fortin Consulting, Incorporated

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Fortin, Connie
  • Tjaden, Lauren
  • Mulhem, Nancy
• Publication Date: 2014-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 50p
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Synthesis
  • Issue Number: TRS 1411
  • Publisher: Minnesota Department of Transportation
  • Serial URL: http://www.research.dot.state.mn.us
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Chlorides; Deicing chemicals; Halite; Interviewing; Literature reviews; Paving materials; Porous pavements; Snow and ice control; Speed limits; Studded tires; Tire chains; Water quality management; Winter maintenance
• Geographic Terms: Burnsville (Minnesota)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01600667
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, STATEDOT
• Created Date: May 29 2016 3:32PM