A little
Magic in Keene
Author:
Donna Moxle, Staff Writer
The Keene Sentinel
Published December 12,2004
New
Hampshire has a reputation for using more salt
to keep its roads clear than other New England
states. Now, a new additive promises to make a
little salt go a long way. The product goes by
the
name, Magic Minus Zero and the city of Keene is
trying it out for the first time.
A rough transcript (not
word for word accurate):
Magic-minus-zero is a brown, sweet-smelling
liquid sprayed on regular rock salt.
The result is "magic salt"
- a new kind of road treatment that sounds truly
magical.
Keene highway foreman Bruce Tatro
says so far, magic salt has already performed
one trick.
It's saved the city money.
With it, road crews use less salt.
And that's also good for the environment.
Bruce Tatro- 9:58 I've always been
interested in new technology ... I'll try it,
sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Right
now this seems to work.
NH Ice Melt of Manchester makes
Magic-minus-zero, and calls Keene its first customer.
It's made with magnesium chloride.
The company claims their product
cuts down dramatically on the corrosiveness of
road salt, doesn't stain roads white, and is biodegradable.
They also say magic salt works in
temperatures as low as 35-degrees-below-zero.
When the temperature gets below
fifteen degrees, regular rock salt stops working.
Until today, Keene has used magic
salt only for potential ice problems.
Highway workers spray down a layer
of the sticky mixture ahead of time, when roads
are expected to get icy.
Tatro ... 3:54 one of the big things
that I like about magic salt is you can do that
pre-treatment, so it keeps the roads safe ...
you don't have to wait until you have ice already
on the road to apply it, you don't need moisture
to react with it ... 8:12 there's always something
on the pavement to prevent it from forming ice.
The crew has been able to cut in half the amount
of salt it has to spread on each mile of local
road.
That savings more than recovers
the cost of the magic-minus-zero application.
Today's storm was the first real test of the magic
salt will be if it prevents ice and snow from
sticking to the road after road crews come by
with snowplows.
The treatment is supposed to leave
a clear road behind a plow.
Reached in the middle of cleanup
from today's storm, Tatro said the magic salt
was living up to its name.
And Keene's roads were clear.
For NHPR news, I'm Donna Moxley.
207 North Main Street, Concord, NH 03301-5003
phone 603.228.8910 fax 603.224.6052
Content © 2004 NHPR
