VTrans says truck telemetry, liquid salt and driver training cut salt use but trade-offs remain

Ernie Pat Reynolds, director of maintenance at the Agency of Transportation, told the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee on Feb. 5 that technology and operational changes have reduced the highway system’s material footprint while aiming to preserve public safety.

“Now the trucks are computerized beyond what you can even imagine. We know how fast the truck is going. We know whether the pile is up and down. We know how much they’re putting down on the roadway at any given time,” Reynolds said, describing a shift from manual on/off spreading to automated, telemetry-driven application.

Reynolds and other agency staff described four main changes that they said have reduced salt and sand use: switching to computerized spreader controls that compensate for vehicle speed; pre-wetting granular salt with a liquid solution to make it work faster; mechanical improvements to plow blades and underbody scrapers that remove packed snow more effectively; and expanded driver training and supervisor oversight.

“By spraying [liquid salt] directly onto the spinner just before the salt hits the road, it makes the salt wet,” Reynolds said. “The industry standard says just by making that salt wet, saves us 30%.”

Agency staff cautioned those performance gains occur within the limits of safety and weather variability. Jackie Munya, who described herself as overseeing the agency’s MS4/stormwater compliance work, said AOT reports application data annually for watersheds that are chloride-impaired and follows best-management practices statewide.

“We report annually our usage in those specific chloride ... watersheds,” Munya said, adding the agency uses truck telematics to track application in targeted areas and to comply with permit reporting requirements.

Committee members pressed on whether the state could do more — for example, on pretreating roads or training private contractors — and whether the improved practices translate to parking lots, sidewalks or private property. Reynolds and other staff said most of the agency’s equipment and training is road-focused and that commercial and private applications are separate challenges.

Reynolds said the timing of pretreatment matters. “If you missed it just by a half hour, you just wasted a truck, a person, and a whole load of material,” he said, explaining why AOT stopped routine roadway pretreatment but uses pre-wetting applied immediately at the spinner.

Staff also noted operational limits: travel patterns, pavement temperature and local terrain affect how salt works. Munya said each AOT truck has pavement temperature sensors to help drivers judge treatment in the field, and supervisors calibrate responses to local conditions.

Committee members and witnesses also discussed the potential for AOT to provide training to municipalities or to commercial applicators. Agency staff said local roads programs offer training and that VTrans participates in national organizations and symposiums to stay current on available equipment and methods, but that commercial applicator training for parking lots and private property is outside routine AOT operations.

The exchange made clear the agency views technological and procedural changes as effective at reducing material use, while emphasizing that further mandated reductions would require revising service-level plans and could pose trade-offs with safety and with the wide year-to-year variability in winter severity.

The discussion did not result in a formal vote or change to agency policy during the committee meeting.