Towns, Villages Take Advantage Of New ODOT Strategy

COLUMBUS, Ohio—State transportation officials started a new program this winter called Smart Salt.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is having salt truck drivers use salt where and when it’s most effective, and they monitor pavement temperatures with sensors, NBC 4‘s Ben Gelber reported.

According to ODOT, at 30 degrees, one pound of salt can melt up to 46 pounds of ice.

At 15 degrees, one pound of salt melts less than 7 pounds of ice.

Snow plows were out in full force in Bellefontaine after an overnight snowfall that covered a layer of ice.

Deep drifts formed along the berm of U.S. 33 although most of the snow had blown off the roads.

Approximately 160 schools were either delayed or closed around Central Ohio due to icy roads.

As much as four inches of snow fell in parts of Logan County sandwiched between layers of ice from the two-day storm.

About a dozen mostly rural towns and villages around the state have taken advantage of the state’s smart salt program, a savings of more than $30 per ton of salt.

“Because we were able to stockpile some salt from last year at last year’s prices, (it) was able to assist those towns and villages that didn’t have anything this year,“ said Nancy Burton of ODOT.

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