Washington County’s state roadways may stay ice free this winter with a new salt brine application, but some truck drivers and motorists are concerned that the brine may also mean more rust on vehicles.
The Ohio Department of Transportation will spread the ice-fighting solution of 23 percent salt plus water on state routes about a day before snow is expected to fall. The salt brine is dripped in liquid form, allowing traffic to spread it and prevent the roads from freezing when the snow arrives.
However, some mechanics say the new salt brine’s liquid form (rather than salt granules) leads to easier and higher spreading of salt into a vehicle’s undercarriage, resulting in more rusting problems.
An October Land Line trucking magazine article recently addressed the salt brine issue: “When the moist chemicals are kicked up as vapor as cars and trucks roll over treated roads, the chemicals find every opening, every break in paint, every flaw in wiring insulations, everywhere connectors are not perfectly sealed,” wrote the magazine’s technical editor Paul Abelson.
Truck mechanics in Marietta said they also see a difference with their trucks encountering the new salt brine on the nation’s highways.
“You can really tell when a truck has been in it (the salt brine),” said Marietta’s Edgell-Jackson Trucking head mechanic Jim Ball. “It goes everywhere ... higher and deeper into the vehicle.”
Ball said he sees the most the rust problems with wiring, which is not accustomed to heavy salt exposure higher in the vehicle.
Although the rust is a nuisance and harder to clean off, Ball said he has not seen a major widespread problem yet.
“Right now I don’t know if it’s a good thing or bad thing,” Ball said of the new salt brine. “The more this becomes rural-wide, we’ll probably see some more problems.”
Ball suggested motorists clean their undercarriages several times during the winter to try and thwart rusting from the salt brine.
ODOT District 10 public information officer Stephanie Filson said the state is aware of the concerns.
“Being a pilot program we will be looking at every aspect,” Filson said. “If we get numerous complaints, of course it will be something to look at.”
Filson said ODOT has not seen any major problems with the liquid salt after trial applications in northern Ohio.
“The brine we will use this winter is made with the same salt we use on the roads,” Filson said. “Hopefully by using it as a pretreatment we will be using less salt than we normally do, making it better for cars and the environment.”
Filson also said the application of brine is dripped on the road, not sprayed.
“It’s not like there are puddles of this on the road,” Filson said. However, she did say that tailgating an ODOT truck dripping the salt brine could cause problems for vehicles. Filson recommended staying at least 500 feet behind any ODOT vehicle.