Road salt resources

Road salt resources

Why road salt is a problem

Vox story by Brad Plumer: “How America got addicted to road salt — and why it’s a problem”
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/13/7531833/road-salt-environment-alternatives

USGS summary of an excellent 2015 peer-reviewed article by Steve Corsi and other USGS scientists: “Urban Stream Contamination Increasing Rapidly Due to Road Salt”
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=4076#.VaaudHg47HM
Peer-reviewed (open/free access) article, Corsi et al. (2015):
River chloride trends in snow-affected urban watersheds: increasing concentrations outpace urban growth rate and are common among all seasons. Science of the Total Environment

One of the most cited road salt papers, Kaushal et al. (2005) Increased salinization of fresh water in the northeastern United States. PNAS
(PDF) http://www.pnas.org/content/102/38/13517.full.pdf

Michigan DOT: “Effects of deicing materials on natural resources, vehicles, and highway infrastructure”
(PDF) http://www.michigan.gov/documents/ch3-deice_51440_7.pdf

Why salt is used: Wisconsin Transportation Bulletin No. 6: Using Salt and Sand for Winter Road Maintenance
http://www.usroads.com/journals/p/rmj/9712/rm971202.htm

An extended abstract from a conference:
Moore J., Lev S. M., Casey R. E. (2013) Modeling the effects of road salt on soil, aquifer, and stream chemistry. 2013 MODFLOW and More Conference Proceedings. 5 pp. PDF

Reducing the impact of road salt, including alternatives

Minnesota Star-Tribute story: “Road salt use gets weighted against saving money, environment: Little changes to road de-icing can have big effect”
http://www.startribune.com/new-factor-in-road-salt-use-saving-money-environment/286308151/

Michigan DOT: “Current deicing practices and alternative deicing materials”
(PDF) http://www.michigan.gov/documents/ch2-deice_51438_7.pdf

Washington State University news release about Xianming Shi’s research: “Green highway snow and ice control cuts the chemicals”
https://news.wsu.edu/2014/11/19/green-highway-snow-and-ice-control-cuts-the-chemicals/#.VaadwHg47HM

Time: “How Beet Juice Is Helping Keep Roads Safe This Winter”
http://time.com/5761/salt-shortage-triggers-beet-juice-cheese-brine-alternatives/

Adirondack Watershed Institute Report # AWI2010-01: “Review of Effects and Costs of Road De-icing with Recommendations for Winter Road Management in the Adirondack Park”
(PDF) http://www.protectadks.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Road_Deicing-1.pdf

National Cooperative Highway Research Program Synthesis 449: Strategies to mitigate the impacts of chloride roadway deicers on the natural environment.
(PDF) http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_syn_449.pdf

Evaluating Snow and Ice Control Chemicals for Environmentally Sustainable Highway Maintenance Operations (Abstract of published article)
http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)TE.1943-5436.0000709

Current Strategies to Mitigate the Impacts of Chloride Based Deicers to the Environment (Abstract of published article)
http://www.ieca.org/membersonly/cms/viewabstract.asp?AbstractID=1325&Type=Conference%20Proceedings