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Department of Transportation crews are using an ingredient that most people would not expect in their salt mixtures to clear snow and ice from roads in Missouri. KSMU’s Adam Murphy reports.
Beet juice has been distributed throughout the Springfield Area District to clear roads this winter. According to Bob Edwards of the Missouri Department of Transportation, road crews began mixing the beet juice with salt last year. Edwards says the beet juice mixture has been effective in helping to clear roads.
“The calcium chloride, or the beet juice, just extends the salt and helps it to activate a little bit quicker and also helps it to continue to act as the temperatures drop,” said Edwards.
Beet juice is a byproduct of making sugar from sugar beets. The liquid is brown and dyes the road salt the same color. The Missouri Department of Transportation says it used more than 200,000 gallons of beet juice state wide last winter, and so far this season the agency has mixed 78,000 gallons with salt. For KSMU News, I’m Adam Murphy.
