Modern ODOT tech-preps for winter

ODOT truck drivers use infrared sensors that gauge road-surface temperatures.

STAFF REPORT

LISBON — New technology is taking on the forthcoming miserable winter weather.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is promoting its “smart salt strategy” in part as a response to high road-salt costs.

Rock salt was $40.19 a ton last year, but will cost ODOT $72.89 a ton this year because of damage to salt mines.

Rock salt has been the best thing to fight snow and ice since the 1930s, according ODOT spokeswoman Becky McCarty.

But both Ohio and Pennsylvania began to modernize their approach to snow removal several years ago.

Barry Minor, head of the ODOT garage near Lisbon, said Friday that when he started working many years ago, the modern tools weren’t available.

Today, they include a sensor on state Route 11 at the Mahoning and Columbiana County border, another at the border of Columbiana and Jefferson counties, and another at the post.

Minor said www.buckeyetraffic.org offers a variety of information.

Minor and McCarty said traffic officials from all the states come to study Ohio’s system.

McCarty said people can use the filters at the left of the Web site to determine weather conditions.

Most storms come from the west, Minor uses the Web site to check information from Canton, as can other viewers.

“I can watch a storm coming in and look at other [ODOT] districts in real time,” he said.

The information is updated every 10 minutes. Minor said he prefers it to radar.

Not on the Web? Feel free to call the post, and workers will try to provide information on local road conditions.

Ever followed a snow plow thinking you were in for a slip-free drive? McCarty pointed out that it takes rock salt 20 minutes to begin to dissolve.

The district’s 16 trucks have air and road temperature sensors which help determine the anti-snow response.

The district can also pretreat roads with brine, which is water with a 6 to 10 percent salt content.

Steve Chizmar, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman, said salt spreaders are calibrated to the speed of a truck, so that when the truck slows down, the amount of salt being spread slows down as well.

He said infrared sensors that gauge road-surface temperatures for a driver are mounted on truck mirrors. They allow the driver to deliver salt accordingly. The trucks can also use grit in the mix to give vehicles traction and cut costs.

He said PennDOT also gives drivers the flexibility to decide if an area needs more or less salt.

The department pre-wets its salt with brine at the spinner at the rear of the truck, which prevents the salt from bouncing all over.

“We want it on the road, not on the shoulder,” he said.

When the temperature hits 20 degrees or less, salt stops working and the state drivers turn to calcium chloride, which will work in the lower temperatures.

Minor said the art is “the right people, the right place and the right salt.”

Jim Dicenso, equipment supervisor for the Trumbull County engineer’s office, said the county does not have any smart salt trucks and he is unsure when or if they will be getting the technology.

“[ODOT’s] budget allows them to have more state of the art items that you typically will not find in the counties and townships,” he said. “It’s really not comparing apples to apples.”

Dicenso said the county’s setup also differs from that of ODOT, and with good reason. He said ODOT uses straight salt for its mostly four-lane highways, whereas the county uses a salt and ice control mixture to handle the residential and city streets it must clear. Columbiana County also does not have smart trucks.

But ODOT can and does plow state roads in villages if requested. Cities get more gasoline tax revenue and therefore have to plow all their streets, including state roads.

McCarty also pointed out that while people may feel comfortable following a plow, drivers should back off, because plow drivers often cannot see vehicles behind them because of the blowing snow. She also cautioned people not to try to pass a plow.