A road salt shortage that has stifled supply to communities around the country this winter has already left the City of Murfreesboro with far less than normal supply and hard choices about how it will clear icy streets this winter.
And, though the National Weather Service predicts a 42 percent chance of above-normal temperatures the rest of the winter, according to its Web site, the coldest months of the year historically lay ahead.
“We wanted drivers to be aware of this situation as early as possible so they can prepare to be extra careful should a snow or ice storm hit Murfreesboro,” Street Department Director Rick Templeton said.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation bids road salt on an annual basis and purchases salt from the lowest bidder. Murfreesboro normally has the ability to purchase road salt from this vendor based on TDOT’s annual contract price, Templeton said this week. Murfreesboro does not bid road salt because it doesn’t buy enough tonnage to guarantee a low contract bid price.
A proposal letter from the supplier usually arrives early in the fall of the year, he continued, but this year was different.
“This year,” he said, “we didn’t get a proposal letter, instead we got a letter saying that storms in the Northeast had depleted their reserves and we wouldn’t be getting any salt.
“We had no prior knowledge that this situation existed and were really blindsided,” the director continued.
The department normally begins the winter season with around 1,000 tons, Templeton said. This fall we had approximately 400 tons of salt in storage and our intention was to re-supply to 1,000 tons.
The winter storms we have experienced during the last two weeks have left us with a supply of approximately 200 tons according to Templeton.
Unless additional supply can be found, his department will have to use the remaining salt on clearing the more dangerous street locations like bridges and overpasses, steeper grades and intersections where Murfreesboro Police Department reports problems.
The Street Department operates enough salt trucks and staff to alternate on eight-hour shifts until a snow or ice event has run its course, Templeton said. Normally, this is enough coverage to keep all major arterials and most secondary streets clear.
“In the event our salt supply is completely depleted” he said, “we’ll have to use some kind of sand for traction, primarily on bridges, hills, and major intersections, but it won’t be the usual blanket approach.”
The road salt shortage is a problem in more locations than just Murfreesboro, according to several national reports, as officials struggle to keep pavement clear of snow.
The shortage is likely to force many cities to salt fewer roads, increasing the risk of accidents. Like Murfreesboro, other communities are abandoning road salt for less expensive but also less effective sand.
The salt industry claims the increased demand and higher fuel costs are to blame. But some officials insist salt prices spiked more dramatically than the summer’s highest fuel prices which have come down dramatically in the last few months.
"The driving public may be the ones who suffer on this," said Robert Young, highway superintendent for northwestern Indiana's LaPorte County, which has 20,000 tons of salt on hand - only half as much as needed to last a normal winter.
Because of the shortage, three companies refused to bid on the county's request for more.
"That explanation doesn't wash," Tom Barwin, city manager in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Ill. and one of several officials who have asked the Illinois attorney general to investigate the price increases, told the Associated Press. The office said it doesn't have jurisdiction.
The United States used a near-record 20.3 million tons of road salt last year, largely because areas from the Northeast to the Midwest had heavier-than-average snowfall. Parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, for instance, got four to six times their typical amounts. Vermont, New Hampshire and other areas set records.
The harsh winter left salt storage barns virtually empty. Communities that needed additional salt late in the season had trouble finding it because supplier stockpiles had also been depleted, according to Dick Hanneman, president of the Salt Institute, a trade group.
This year, many states, including Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, requested bids early, Hanneman said, and salt orders grew significantly. Five states increased their orders by a total of 2 million tons over last year and suppliers quickly realized that at that pace, they would not have enough salt to bid on other contracts, he said.
The rising cost of gasoline and diesel this past summer compounded the situation, Hanneman said. Road salt - which, unlike table salt, is sold in large crystals - is transported by barge and truck from mines in Kansas, Louisiana and Texas. Some is shipped from as far away as Chile in South America.
State agencies that maintain interstate highways are supplied first, leaving smaller communities like Murfreesboro that don’t buy enough tonnage to get the lowest price the hardest hit by the shortage, Hanneman said. |
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