State Prepares to Stockpile Salt for Winter

State and municipal highway supervisors in Rhode Island are carefully watching stockpiles of road salt to avoid shortages

State and municipal highway supervisors in Rhode Island are carefully watching stockpiles of road salt to avoid shortages.

The Providence Journal reports (http://bit.ly/10iJ8IQ ) that the Rhode Island Department of Transportation is adding capacity for storing salt and using salt-metering systems and GPS devices on plows to control salt application.

Joe Baker, administrator of highway and bridge maintenance for the state transportation agency, says the state has upgraded its two facilities for storing salt. The state can store 30,000 tons at a time, up from a few thousand tons each in facilities in Lincoln and Narragansett.

Baker says Rhode Island got through the season with salt remaining last year, but it was close.

Spokesman Dane Roth of Morton Salt says demand heading into winter is substantially higher than usual.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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