An increase in the cost of road salt has prompted the City of Moncton to change the way it tackles snow removal this winter.
Since the closure of the Picadilly Mine near Sussex in January 2016, the city has to pay 40 per cent more to truck in road salt from outside the province.
“We used to get our salt from the Sussex mine, which is closed down and now we are getting our salt from another salt supply from the Magdalen Islands,” said the Don Morehouse, the director of public works
He says while the cost of salt has actually decreased by just over $2 a tonne, transportation costs to truck the salt in from the Port of Saint John instead of from Sussex have risen from just over $9 a tonne to roughly $16.
READ MORE: Moncton trucks in 3,000 tonnes of road salt after potash mine closure
That means the city is now having to pay an extra $40,000 this winter to truck in road salt and the resulting cost increase is driving the city to change the way it clears the roads.
“Some roads don’t the same levels of salt application as the busier roadways. We are trying to reduce our salt output altogether,” said Morehouse.
Morehouse says crews will try to conserve salt usage this winter, especially on side streets, and focus more on maintaining busier main routes.
“You are still going to have a good road. It might not be bare full width in a subdivision. It might be centre line bare but intersections and spots like that we are going to make sure they are taken care of,” he said.
Moncton resident Natalie Fourgere, who has a visual impairment, hopes that’s true because sometimes after a storm, she’s forced to walk on those side streets.
WATCH: The closure of the Picadilly mine near Sussex is calling into question where the province will get its road salt
“Just like a big pile of snow or if it is icy, it can change my whole route altogether. So if I have to go to a side street,it is still very challenging for me,” she said.
Morehouse says controlling the city’s salt usage is a balancing act; the less salt they use, the cheaper it is and the better it is for the environment. But, he says that using too much salt can actually make the roads slipperier depending on the temperatures.
READ: Why do we still use road salt and what are the alternatives?
He says public safety is the priority, so the city also plans to increase the use of a less expensive product called salt brine that is sprayed on the roads in advance of a storm, which Morehouse says is highly effective at preventing ice build-up.
“That gives us basically a salt residue on the road, which is a bond breaker for the snow when it comes on the roadways,” he said.
So he says residents may see more tanker trucks running through the streets this winter. The city currently has one unit and plans to buy a second.
Fougere says she doesn’t care what the city uses as long as she’s able to get around safely this winter.
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