City laying down anti-ice solution well before storm

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By KEVIN ABOUREZK / Lincoln Journal Star

Those greasy-looking stripes you’ve likely seen on Lincoln roads in recent weeks aren’t just there for looks.

That’s a salt-water mixture the city of Lincoln Public Works Department started laying down shortly after Nov. 1, said Roger Tiedeman, the city’s west district manager for street maintenance.

“It’s just salt water,” he said.

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A snow plow works around parked cars in southwest Lincoln as crews worked to clear the city's streets in this February, 2008 file photo. (Eric Gregory)

A snow plow works around parked cars in southwest Lincoln as crews worked to clear the city's streets in this February, 2008 file photo. (Eric Gregory)

The brine solution acts as an anti-ice agent, preventing snow and ice from bonding to the pavement during winter storms. The city has been laying down the solution on arterial streets and bridges in Lincoln each Wednesday and Thursday for nearly three weeks, Tiedeman said.

Why is the city putting the solution down so early when barely a snowflake has fallen?

Mainly, Tiedeman said, the city wants to reduce frost buildup on bridges and arterials. But the city also sees some possible cost savings to laying down the solution early.

“If we don’t have it down, then we end up using more salt just to try to melt the stuff,” he said.

The solution is relatively inexpensive, Tiedeman said, costing about 5 cents per gallons. Compared to other anti-ice agents, like Ice Ban, which costs nearly 85 cents-per-gallon, that’s a bargain, he said.

And the city has been manufacturing its own brine solution since last winter, he said.

The city already has received some complaints from residents about laying down the brine solution so early in the season, Tiedeman said.

When wet, the solution can make roads slippery, which especially can affect motorcyclists and speeding motorists. But it dries fairly quickly and will normally remain effective for more than a week, he said.

A state roads manager questioned why the city already has begun laying down the brine mixture.

Roger Kalkwarf, District 1 operations and maintenance manager for the state roads department, said the state likely won’t lay down any anti-ice mixture until it sees a winter storm approaching.

“It just hasn’t been that cold yet,” he said. “I don’t want to waste my salt if I don’t have to.”

Bob Jacobs, road maintenance superintendent for Lancaster County, said the county also will wait until a storm approaches before putting down its brine mixture.

“We wait for the storm,” he said.

Of course, the county and state each have many more miles of roads to maintain once a storm actually hits.

The city handles 19 routes, each about 50 miles long, compared to 3,500 lane-miles for the state roads department’s Southeast Nebraska district and 1,500 miles of road for the county.

Tiedeman said the city is ready for its first winter storm, though it doesn’t yet know when that storm will hit. He knows from experience it will be in his department’s best interest to tackle the snow even before it touches the ground.

“People get a little antsy when we’re not right in front of their door,” he said.

Reach Kevin Abourezk at 473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com.