Environmental group honors CTAP and Mn/DOT efforts to curtail salt, sand use
Practices such as anti-icing and pre-wetting helped Mn/DOT earn environmental stewardship awards from the Freshwater Society for reducing the amount of salt and sand used for winter highway maintenance.
The society and a consulting firm, The Fortin Co., honored the department for the efforts by Wendy Frederickson, Salt Solutions coordinator; Kathy Schaefer, Circuit Training and Assistance Program (CTAP) coordinator, Mn/DOT Maintenance Operations Research and Minnesota LTAP; and four members of Duluth/District 1's maintenance staff. The award honored their work to implement Mn/DOT's Salt Solutions program and other efforts to use deicing chemicals more effectively.
The awards cite the recipients' outstanding work to lessen the environmental impacts associated with winter highway maintenance, said Jeanne Prok, the society's program director.
Frederickson was cited for her role as the department's Salt Solutions coordinator; Schaefer was recognized for providing related training to city, county, and staff from other government units.
Prok said measures such as "dialing down" application rates for salt and cutting the use of sand benefited the state's environment during the winter.
Duluth/District 1 pioneered developing and using techniques that enable individual snowplow operators to determine the most effective salt application rates based on factors such as air and ground temperatures, precipitation, and current road conditions.
The district also equipped most of its snowplows for pre-wetting and trained operators to use ground-oriented sanders and related equipment to determine the optimal rates for salt and other chemical applications. District 1's Salt Solutions coordinators Holly Johnson, Virginia, and Steve Baublitz, Duluth, earned recognition for their efforts. Greg Pierzina, maintenance supervisor at Virginia, and Tim Sheehy, district maintenance superintendent, received honors for implementing pre-wetting, anti-icing and other practices to reduce salt use.
Sheehy said the district has cut the amount of chlorides used each year, including the cold and snowy 2003–2004 winter. The district has also reduced sand use to lower runoff into drains and waterways, airborne dust levels, and spring clean-up costs.
Written by Craig Wilkins, Mn/DOT. Reprinted with permission from Mn/DOT Newsline, March 31, 2004.