Blog: City Blog

Salt Replacements Ordered After Season's First Snow

An order should arrive next week to replenish the City’s salt inventory as 980 tons, roughly half of the City’s salt inventory, were used during the snow event that began Friday, January 6. The City’s 23 trucks spread 128 loads of salt while treating Level I, II, and III streets in the City’s Snow Plan over the weekend.

And that’s just the salt. On Thursday, Level I and II streets were treated with 35,000 gallons of brine, a solution that reduces the temperature at which water freezes.

Crews also had to use 3,000 gallons of calcium chloride on Friday and Saturday, which helps make rock salt useful when temperatures stay as low as they did over the weekend.

“This was a more challenging snow event because of low temperatures,” said Chad Weth, Public Service Director. “I’ve found that a two-inch storm in 20-degree weather is probably an equivalent to six inches in 30-degree weather.”

Crews pre-treated streets with brine on Thursday, salted and cleared the first snow on Friday as well as the second snow on Saturday, and then responded to call-ins on Sunday, covering a total of 4,718 miles.

For information on the City’s Snow Plan, visit www.knoxvilletn.gov/snowplan. For winter weather updates on government services, visit www.knoxvilletn.gov/winter.

Posted by On 10 January, 2017 at 5:18 PM