NEW BRINE SOLUTION USED TO COMBAT SLICK CAPE GIRARDEAU ROADS

Cape Girardeau's public works crews have always known that a little salt helps cut right through snow and ice.

But now they're spraying it before the frozen stuff starts.

The city's Department of Public Works is using a brine solution, sprayed before inclement weather arrives, to help make snow and ice easier to remove from pavement.

Tim Gramling, the assistant director of public works, said crews are mixing up a salt brine solution, which is then sprayed directly on to street pavement, to help clear snow and ice.

The brine solution helps prevent the snow and ice from bonding to the pavement, Gramling said.

The solution looks like plain water, but can applied as much as two or three days before an anticipated storm, he said.

The traditional solid salt mix, thrown after snow and ice arrive, works on the same principle as the salt brine solution, Gramling said.

But the salt has to work its way through the layers of snow and ice before it turns into brine.

The brine "is the same philosophy, only we're getting to it ahead of the snow," Gramling said.

The brine doesn't keep the snow or ice from accumulating or sticking, he said, "but it impedes it somewhat. It depends on our temperatures and how fast it's coming down. But it sure does help."

The brine solution is only used on bridges "and some of the worst spots, so we can cover pretty much the whole city in one day," Gramling said.

After the fact, the fleet of snowplows hits the streets to clear snow and ice.

The city still uses salt and sand, and adds calcium chloride to the solid salt to help it clear snow a little faster.

The brine solution was used for the first time at the end of December, Gramling said, and worked well.

There is a bonus to using the brine solution, he said: It's considerably less expensive than the other chemicals available, and the city can use a truck already in the fleet to spray it.

"Because it is so cheap, we can kind of feel free to use it and not feel like we're wasting anything," he said.