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ORIGINAL: ThatDamnedPanda

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ORIGINAL: kdsub

pa... salt is about $52 a ton in our area. At approx 250 to 600 lbs per lane mile the tons add up quickly. We had about 225 lane miles in our jurisdiction and storms would often require multiple applications and total easily 800 tons per storm. This did not include liquid calcium chloride that may cost $1.50 a gallon with 2.5 gallons per ton. Then add labor with overtime, plow blades, equipment repair and maintenance... Costs add up quick and can break a City that does not plan accordingly

We tried to build a 2,000 ton reserve with a restock guarantee mid winter. When our supplies get low in severe years we start mixing sand with the salt. This still provides traction but is dirty and the cost of cleanup must be included.

Otherwise in this age of broke municipalities budget items like snow removal are the first to take the hit.

Butch

Here in the Twin Cities, both Minneapolis and St. Paul ran out of money last month for snow removal. Each city only had a certain amount allocated for the calendar year of 2010, and when they hit that number, they literally had to stop plowing the streets until January 1st, when the new budget kicked in. Had we had another major snowstorm during those last couple of weeks, I'm not sure how they would have handled it.