Salt Shortage Worries Public Works

Livingston’s roads are slippery when white, and the supervisor of Public Works is beginning to worry about having enough road salt to handle these weekly wintry blasts.

The heavy snow – and this week’s ice storm – has heightened demand for salt, and Livingston has less than it would like. It’s made a tough job more difficult and Michael Anello, the superintendent of Public Works, more determined.

“This winter is not breaking me,” Anello said. “This is principal now and I’ve declared war. It’s me against Mother Nature.”

But he could use some help.

Livingston began the winter with a full salt dome holding about 600 tons of salt. It’s been dwindling with each and every snow and it’s been getting difficult to get more, Anello said. With just 200 tons of salt on hand for this week’s ice storm, the township received a delivery of 100 tons on Wednesday, a help, but not as much as ordered.

That meant  Livingston salted fewer roads during the ice storm, responding only to streets deemed necessary by Livingston police, he said.

“With a winter as bad as this one, we want to make sure we have enough salt, just in case,” said Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr.

Essex County’s salt domes are full, but even the county has been getting less salt for the roads than ordered, he said. And the ice storm was a difficult one, he said, taking more time and more salt to clear the roads.

The salt isn’t the only concern. The storms are wreaking havoc on budgets for snow removal. DiVincenzo said the county has already spent $2.9 million and there’s just $700,000 left in the budget. “There’s no question that we’ll go over the budget. There’s still six weeks (of winter) to go,” he said.

In Livingston, Anello said he’s been lucky that the timing of the storms has worked in his favor in terms of scheduling the crew without significant amounts of overtime. He’s also been using a less expensive “brine” on the roads before the first flurries of each storm arrive. Crews spay the salt and water "brine,” a layer that is effective in some storms – including this week’s –  in preventing snow and ice from sticking, he said.

Still, the township spreads up to 250 tons of salt on Livingston’s 126 miles of roads during each storm. Anello said he is using what he has left sparingly. “I have another snow storm coming on Saturday,” he said. “I just can’t go around and waste it.”

The ice storm in Livingston on Wednesday. While roads were covered with less than two inches of slush, crews began plowing roads when temperatures crept to 40 degrees.

“Sometimes you’re actually better leaving the snow on,” Anello said. “It’s crunchier and provides some traction.”

In his 33 years experience doing this job, Anello has found if you plow too soon in icy rain, scraping off the top layer can lead to a sheet of ice. “It’s like driving your car on a skating rink,” he said.

Livingston police reported a few minor accidents in the ice storm and some downed phone and cable wires. A few cars got stuck in snow banks, said Det. Sgt. Anthony Dippold.