GRAND HAVEN, Mich. - A lot of us don't want to think about it, but that white stuff will soon cover our yards, sidewalks and our roads. Even though the snow hasn't started yet, the Ottawa County Road Commission is already preparing for some issues winter maintenance might bring.
The price for road salt has increased significantly over the last year. In fact, the price has doubled for the Ottawa County Road Commission.
"Luckily we still had some salt allocations left on last year's contract with much lower prices and so it kind of offsets some of the expected increases," Alex Doty of the Ottawa County Road Commission, said. "But if we have a bad winter and we have to use all of our salt capacity and we spend more on winter maintenance than our budget, that could impact projects in the spring and summer."
In order to offset the costs the Road Commission may have to dip into their future road projects.
"If we have to take measures out of other areas that's what we're going to do because the safety of our drivers is what's important," Doty added.
So why is salt this expensive anyway? Our friends up north gave us an answer.
According to Landscape Ontario, a Canadian trade association, road salt is in serious short supply in all of North America.
The organization says the shortage is for a few reasons:
- High demand
- A tough previous winter
- A labor strike at one of the salt mines
- Flooding in a shafts at another salt mine
Luckily the NOAA released its winter outlook Thursday morning and according to the organization, we may see a warmer than normal winter.
"That's something we like to hear at the Road Commission," Doty said. "The less that we have to spend on winter maintenance the more we can put back on the roads in the spring and summer."
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