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Concord applies salt brine to roads ahead of expected snow
Summary
Randy Shue, street superintendent for the City of Concord, described crews’ process for converting rock salt to liquid brine and applying it to roadways before an anticipated snowstorm; the city currently stores about 1,900 tons of rock salt.
Randy Shue, the street superintendent for the City of Concord, said city crews were applying salt brine to roadways ahead of an anticipated snowstorm and described the steps used to produce and deploy the material.
Shue said the operation begins in the city’s salt shed, which he said currently holds about 1,900 tons of rock salt. “We will take this salt and we will put it into a mixer that applies water that actually liquefies the salt,” he said. The liquefied material is “pumped into our storage tanks and then into our applicator tanks that are onto our trucks and applied to the road,” Shue added.
Shue explained why crews were applying brine before the storm. “Since we're anticipating the storm tomorrow to start as snow, we're applying the brine today,” he said. He also noted the treatment would not be used if the forecast called for only rain: “If the storm was gonna be all rain, we wouldn't apply the brine since the rain would wash it off of the roadway.”
Shue described an observable effect after application: “Once it's applied to the road, the white streaks that you see is actually the salt that is left after the water evaporates, from the salt brine.” The comments in the meeting were informational and focused on the treatment process and timing rather than policy decisions or budgetary questions.
City staff did not present a vote or formal action during the remarks; the comments were a procedural briefing about winter roadway preparation.
