ODOT Emphasizes Strategy To Conserve Salt

The Smart Salt Strategy doesn’t mean that the salt is any smarter, or different. If simply means The Ohio Department Of Transportation is going to be using the salt in a smarter way.

This year, skyrocketing salt prices forced ODOT to adopt a new strategy to conserve salt.

“A Smart Salt Strategy is to make sure that we apply the right material at the right place, at the right time,” said Rex Dickey, deputy director of ODOT District 7.

That material is a mixture of salt and other substances, such as sand, brine or calcium chloride.

ODOT drivers said they’ve mixed these substances in the past.

“We’re going to be mixing this year again. We’ve always worked this way and it’s always worked pretty good,” said Richard Burns, ODOT employee.

Mixing is just part of the strategy. They’ll also make sure they don’t waste this mixture by calibrating their salt spreaders.

“The calibration is actually to set up a maximum amount that the spreader will put onto the road,” said Dickey.

Drivers use a number of tools to determine how much salt mixture to apply.

“You check the road temperature, you check the conditions of the road, the weather, the wind,” said Burns.

When the conditions indicate snowy or icy roads, ODOT said they will be out clearing the roads, just as they always have. The Smart Salt Strategy won’t change the service they provide drivers.