After watching the TV show Highway Thru Hell which is filmed on B.C.’s Coquihalla highway, they were experimenting with applying beet juice on the highways vs. road salts. Beet juice being environmentally friendly, could our city benefit from this?
After doing some research: “Beet juice is used for two purposes — pre-treating the road surface before ice forms and extending the effectiveness of the salt brine commonly used for de-icing. It prevents ice from bonding to pavement and makes ice and snow removal easier. It acts in combination with salt brine and lowers the effective temperature. It is a little more expensive than conventional de-icers such as calcium chloride, but there will be savings as well in cleanup costs come spring. There won’t be as much sand to sweep up.”
Excerpts taken from a Kamloops Daily News article I had found. Not to mention the damage road salts do to our vehicles.
Something for our city to think about?
Jason Moellenbeck, St. Albert
