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Road Commission For Oakland County Is Ready For Winter

SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - The Road Commission for Oakland County may be ahead of the salt game this winter. There have only been two occasions so far they've had salt trucks on the road this year.

RCOC Superintendent Matt Mountain said a seeming lack of having to spread salt so far this year may be good for the long haul.

"We're doing pretty good on salt, we should be fine on salt this year. We've come up with some new things with our salt, with our liquid brine, so our salt ratio is actually cut down. We're adding more brine to the salt, so we should be good with the amount of salt we have,' said Mountain.

Not only are they adding more brine to the salt, they've come up with a new way to deliver it in order to conserve their salt supply.

"It's actually mixed in with the salt when the salt hits the spinner. When it comes out of the truck, there's sprayers there, there are tanks on the trucks, and it actually sprays the salt before it hits the spinner. So, it helps activate the salt and helps us use less salt," said Mountain.

Mountain says while salt quantity might not be as much an issue as in years past, big storms could tax the remaining staff at the Road Commission for Oakland County.

Budget cuts have meant not replacing some drivers who have been lost or left for other jobs and Mountain said that could play havoc when they're dealing with 16 hour on 5.5 hour off shifts during big storms.

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