Deep cold ideal for Regina testing new ice melt mix

As Reginans hunker down indoors from the cold weather, city road crews are relishing the opportunity to get outside and test a liquid salt mix for de-icing slippery roads and intersections.

“It’s liquid salt, liquid de-icer, or magnesium chloride,” Norman Kyle, the city’s roadways and transportation director said. “If anything, we’re hoping it will help us reduce the amount of sand we need to use, by holding the sand onto the pavement longer.”

Kyle said the last two winters in Regina haven’t been ideal for testing the solution, because they’ve been too mild, in terms of temperatures.

The regular sand-salt mix the city uses isn’t effective beyond -12 C. Colder than that, increasing the amount of salt in the mix also doesn’t help.

“During lower temperatures (it) actually reduces the effectiveness of ice control. Using three to six per cent salt has been found to be most effective in improving road conditions for longer period of time compared to higher salt content mixes.”

Prior to testing the liquid salt mixture, city crews would use a coarser sand mixed with salt during cold spells like the current one.

Despite the lack of data for the liquid mix, one Regina driver disagrees that it’s effective in reducing slipperiness at intersections.

A 980 CJME listener, he called into Gormley during the show’s monthly city hall hotline segment with Mayor Michael Fougere on Tuesday.

He put the slippery road question to the mayor.

“Yesterday morning at Prince of Whales Drive and Victoria Avenue at 9 o’clock in the morning they hadn’t been touched yet,” he said. “(We) need to get these major intersections under control.”