Published: Dec. 16, 2016
As the county prepares for a harsh winter, West Bend uses a new product to keep roads safe
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
The last few winters haven’t been strenuous on Public Works
departments throughout Washington County. But with a storm that could
bring nearly a foot of snow to the area, according to the National
Weather Service in Sullivan, preparations are being made.
Several municipalities in the county are ready — one is even trying a new product to improve road conditions.
“We are trying a new product this year,” West Bend Public Works
Director Doug Neumann said. “It’s a GeoMelt product for pre-treating
some of our dangerous areas of concern — hills, curves, intersections.”
According to independentag.com,
GeoMelt “is an agricultural byproduct of the sugar beet industry. Using
GeoMelt in conjunction with rock salt or salt brine will enhance the
melting power of the chemicals to 0 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. This
patented product also works with other deicing liquids and, when added
to salt or salt brine, is 60 percent less corrosive than rock salt alone.”
According to the website, it works two or three days longer than
average salt and works in temperatures as low as 30 degrees below zero.
The city used the product for the first time ahead of last weekend’s storm, which dumped about 6 inches of snow in West Bend.
“We were finding it worked very well,” Neumann said.
The GeoMelt works best on dry roads, which is what Neumann’s
department did last week and again Thursday in preparation for this
week’s anticipated blast of snow.
“The object is to reduce the amount of salt used and reduce the amount
of chloride that is released into water ways and sewer systems,”
Neumann said, adding the product can be sprayed onto the salt.
He learned of the product while attending a Public Works Conference and followed that up by talking to other municipalities that use it.
“All the feedback I got was positive; the investment was minimal,”
Neumann said. “It’s proven to work better than straight salt. It reduces
the salt needed.”
With temperatures Thursday below zero, salt doesn’t work effectively.
Neumann said a calcium chloride chemical would need to be added to the
salt in order for the salt to work. That tactic is costly.
Neumann also reported his department is fully stocked with salt and the equipment is ready for the season.
“Our salt inventory is plenty full because of the mild winters,”
Neumann said, adding the department has more than 5,500 tons of salt.
“It helps our budgeting for the salt that we don’t use,” he said. “We can reduce the contracted amount the following year.”
The city has 20 salt trucks with plows, three loaders with plows and several pickup trucks with plows.
“Everything went very smoothly,” Neumann said of the season’s first
snow storm last weekend. “We had our early season issues with our
trucks. But the kinks are worked out.”
In Slinger, Jim Haggerty, the village’s director of Public Works, also reported the village is ready for the winter.
His hunch, though, says this winter won’t be as mild as the last few.
“This is shaping up to be a
little different,” Haggerty said. “We approach every year the same: to
prepare for the worst-case conditions. We set everything up the same.”
He also has no worries about the village’s salt supply. Because the
village hasn’t used as much salt as in previous winters, the money
saved doesn’t go into a saving account for the department. Instead, the
money is put into a general fund and spent elsewhere.
Haggerty and Neumann agree that snow storms that last more than a day
are often more strenuous on their departments than isolated storms that
dump 5 or more inches at once — staffing and overtime hours are two
reasons for that.
However, Haggerty isn’t nervous heading into this snow-plowing season.
“I feel more comfortable this year than in previous years,” he said,
adding the high-quality staff and the attention that was given to
equipment maintenance are two reasons for that optimism.
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