North Wildwood, NJ – North Wildwood Public Works ventured into the scientific approach of fighting ice and snow this winter, with the application of brine solution on our roadways. This year’s budgetary review process revealed how much we spend on an average winter storm for treating roadways with rock salt: average price is $80 a ton, and 30 tons of rock salt is needed for ice/snow control up to 4” on our 25 miles of roadway.
With limited equipment/manpower, we could only apply salt to North and South bound lanes and some East and West high traffic areas, leaving a lot of roadways untreated. Now, brine can be applied up to 4 days prior to a winter storm, which helps our Public Works department fully cover our 25 miles of road and avoids overtime costs for nightly road treatment. With brine, we’re also only using 1100lbs of salt to make 450 gallons of solution, which can cover 11 miles of roadway in one mix, almost half of the entire City’s travel lanes.
The application of brine does not fully stop us from using rock salt, but it helps significantly in less severe storm events while reducing overall snow removal costs on an annual basis.
Supporting North Wildwood’s claim that brine is beneficial to storm preparedness, The New York Department of Transportation concluded a study stating, “In recent years, there has been a growing transition from reactive strategies to more proactive strategies.” That prevent-defense mentality is exactly what North Wildwood is doing through the utilization of brine. The study also concluded, “Brine provides improved road surface conditions and allows for safer travel.”
The use of brine has helped North Wildwood save money on snow removal materials, while increasing the scale of roadways treated during all winter storms, and has cut down overtime costs for nightly street treatment. “The positives far exceed the negatives, and we can truly see a difference on the roadways during less severe winter storms. Roadways have been wet, but not frozen thanks to the application of brine solution this year,” said Mayor Patrick Rosenello.
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