Will salt shortages hit Rochester’s roads again? What local snow removal companies are preparing for this winter

Will salt shortages hit Rochester’s roads again? What local snow removal companies are preparing for this winter Tom Kowalski News10NBC Will salt shortages hit Rochester’s roads again? What local snow removal companies are preparing for this winter ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Snow removal companies and local officials are preparing for winter as road salt prices continue to rise and concerns about shortages remain. “You’ve got gas prices that went up and you’ve got salt prices that are going up. We’re kind of holding it for now, but we’re going to wait and see what happens,” PJ Leccese said. Stocking up Leccese, who owns THM Property Maintenance, said his company has tripled its salt stores this year. “Last year, we started with 100 tons and ran out in no time,” Leccese said. “Two years ago, it started falling apart where we couldn’t get anymore [salt] halfway through the season, and the price started double and triple. We were going out to Buffalo, Canada to get salt, and just couldn’t get it locally,” Leccese said. Leccese said the price of rock salt has already doubled before the season even started, with individual bags increasing by $3-$4 each. “Right now, we’re hoping that it doesn’t hit as hard as it has the last couple of years.” Suppliers expect shortage Gina Dandrea, managing director of Girl Plower, is also stocking up on salt, saying salt suppliers are expecting another shortage this year. “From what I understand from the providers, yes they are [expecting a shortage],” said Dandrea. “They’re saying that if we have the amount of snow [and ice] that we had last year, that it could be worse. Right now, the prices have already doubled,” Dandrea said. “I have storage containers kind of all over the city right now filled with salt,” she continued. “You know, that’s been quite a cost to get the storage containers filled. But we did that so that we don’t have to worry about being in a shortage.” Dandrea said if prices continue to rise and supplies run out, customers may face higher costs. “If it continues to rise when, you know, we go through what we already have, then there would have to be an increase [in price]. We only increase the customers what it costs, you know, per their property. But of course, you know, I know a lot of contractors last year, just stopped salting, we did not. I just kept hustling to find it,” Dandrea said. Municipalities prepare Local towns and cities are also preparing for winter. The a spokesperson for the City of Rochester said, “We do not expect shortages in the City. Our approach to supply and our relationships with our suppliers ensures we have enough to get through the season.” Henrietta Town Supervisor Steve Schultz says the town is also preparing for the winter season. In an email he said the town is doing the following: We are stockpiling as much as we can in advance. We plan to order well before we start to run low – in the past, we used to be able to be closer to “on demand” but these past couple years have changed that. We are implementing procedures to further reduce salt usage, beyond what we had previously implemented. These include: Using treated salt on really cold days rather than multiple applications of regular salt. Upgrading to better salt spreaders with more control so as to be more precise in our application of salt, helping to eliminate waste. Switching our salt runs to only focus on hills, bridges, and intersections when the conditions are light. Unless it gets slippery, we don’t need to salt the entire side street, just where it comes to an intersection or is on a hill. Looking at a brine application to get the initial layer of salt since a lot of salt bounces off dry roads, requiring more to get it crushed into the pavement.