Salt and Safety
Marquette University's Professor David Kuemmel found that 88.3% of all injury accidents during winter storms can be avoided simply by deicing roadways. Additional facts about Marquette University's studies may be obtained from: Professor David A. Kuemmel, P.E., Director, Center for Highway & Traffic Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233. Telephone: 414/288-3528 Fax: 414/288-7082
E-mail: 6223kuemmel@vms.csd.mu.edu
How Ice Control Works on the Road
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- Salt is spread on surface.
- Salt melts through snow/ice, forming brine.
- Remaining snow/ice floats on brine, breaking bond with road surface.
- Vehicular traffic breaks through the surface, reducing the snow/ice to plowable slush and moving it to the sides of road.
Highway Salt
The majority of Morton's highway/ice control business is with state and municipal highway departments; the remainder goes to smaller communities and the private sector.
Morton’s ice control business employs several transportation modes—truck, ship, barge and rail—to use the most cost effective means of transporting salt. Morton’s ice control salt is sold mainly in Canada and the United States. Because salt is a heavy product, transportation costs are a major factor in serving customers.
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Industry and Market Trends
Ice control salt is bid during the summer months by state and municipal customers and shipped to stockpile locations by the beginning of winter.
Salt remains the most cost-effective agent for combating snow and ice. It is readily available, easy to store, easy to handle and easy to spread. It can be used as an anti-icing agent (applied to bare pavement before a storm), as a pre-wetting brine to accelerate the melting properties of salt or applied to snow pack to melt snow and ice.
The best weather for the salt business is bad weather - ice and snow. That fact becomes all too apparent in winters influenced by El Niņo weather patterns, reducing sales of the ice control products. The good news for the highway salt industry is that, historically, very mild winters often are followed by very severe winters.
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