State’s road salt stocks already full for this winter

DES MOINES - Iowa is stockpiling salt for winter even before summer arrives.

Although the state is coming off one of its mildest winters on record, officials aren't taking any chances: They're preparing for blizzards and snow-covered roads.

The state's road salt supplies are filling up quickly and at bargain prices. Four years ago, there was a salt shortage and prices skyrocketed after a harsh winter.

The Iowa Department of Transportation, which plows nearly 9,000 miles of state highways, has more than 231,000 tons of salt in storage - an amount that actually exceeds capacity, officials said.

The department is still buying salt under terms of a previously negotiated contract, but the price will drop under a new purchasing agreement, officials said.

Last winter, the DOT used more than 50,700 tons of salt - just 21 percent of the seasonal average, spokeswoman Dena Gray-Fisher said.

The statewide average of 18.5 inches of snow last winter was the 10th-lowest snowfall in 125 years of records, state Climatologist Harry Hillaker said. The average statewide temperature of about 35 degrees between November and March was the warmest five-month stretch for those months on record.

“As far as salt usage, the lack of snowfall would undoubtedly be the bigger item, but it probably helped to have the higher temperatures as well,” Hillaker said.

Demand for road salt is down nationally, said Tom Peterson, president and general manager of Central Salt, the sales and marketing arm for Lyons Salt Co. of Lyons, Kan. His company tracked winter weather in nine markets including New York City and Denver and found that the aggregate total snowfall was the lowest on record dating to the late 1800s.

The Iowa DOT is keeping the money it's saving on snow removal to put toward road work.