Krasnoyarsk to phase out road salt in ice control efforts

Krasnoyarsk will gradually phase out road salt, Mayor Sergey Vereshchagin announced. He stated that he has instructed road services to develop a cleaning regulation «with a complete abandonment of the use of technical salt» for the future.

To combat ice, according to the mayor, they will use a sand-gravel mixture and PGRT (solid anti-icing material — a reagent).

«We agreed to test the effectiveness of the reagent on a number of roads in different weather conditions. We will gradually phase out salt,» Vereshchagin wrote.

He noted both a shortage of equipment and personnel in the road sector. In the special equipment fleet, according to him, 50 new machines for snow removal and inter-yard passages will appear this year, although even this will not be enough. The mayor ordered the phased purchase of machines, as well as the search for additional personnel.

To increase the efficiency of cleaning, it is necessary to create equipment bases and additional places for snow storage.

«The creation of stationary snow melters is one option. I ordered to calculate the economics of the process,» he added.

This winter has been quite snowy in Krasnoyarsk, and road services have not always managed to clear it in time. This was one of the reasons for major morning and evening traffic jams in the city in January. The use of salt on roads is often criticized, and in November NGS24.RU reported on how to protect cars from its effects.