Date:
Monday, January 29, 2007
Contact:
Tom Lendberg, WSDOT Area 3 Superintendent, (509) 577-1933 (Pasco)
Mike Westbay, WSDOT Communications Manager, (509) 577-1617 (Yakima)
Meagan McFadden, WSDOT Communications, (509) 577-1618 (Yakima)
South Central Region Maintenance experts are developing innovative new techniques to battle icy winter roadways.
Tom Lenberg, Bob Martin, Steve Underwood and Ryan Miller are volunteering their time to form a research and development team to find a more effective way to melt snow and ice.
A recent discovery has proven to be so effective that a new policy has been adopted— soak solid deicer with liquid deicer before it’s applied to the highway.
“We've always had trouble keeping our solid chemicals in the driving portion of the highway and getting it to stay there for any length of time,” said Tom Lenberg, WSDOT Area 3 Superintendent. “Presoaking the solid deicer solves this problem.”
Wetting the solid deicer before putting it on the road, creates a product that looks like a cross between mud and slush, so an appropriate name for the mixture is “mush.” Mush plops down onto the highway and sticks better than dry solid deicer, making it possible to deice two lanes with one application. Because the mixture is already wet when it hits the road, the mush starts to melt the ice and snow immediately.
A PVC spray bar is used to apply liquid to the load of solid deicer before the truck sets out on its route. Another option is to have our current plow-deicer trucks fitted with equipment to mix the liquid and solid in the truck bed. An auger system can do just that, it was demonstrated at a Superintendent’s meeting and showed real promise.
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