It is rare when an inanimate object trends on twitter in Atlanta, but after our latest bout with winter weather, heroic “brine” did indeed capture the metro region both on our roads and social media. Unlike its predecessor’s (rock, sand and salt), brine turned out to be a very cost effective and efficient solution to treating our roadways.
There is little doubt that the brine mix used by the Department of Transportation this year has done a remarkable job making our roads safer to drive during in climate weather. But what exactly is the brine solution used on our roads?
Tthe brine solution is a water/salt mixture containing 23 percent salt. Approximately two pounds of salt is added to each gallon of water to create the brine solution, according to Natalie Dale from the DOT.
The benefits of the brine are three-fold. First, it is cheaper than a strictly rock, sand combination. Secondly, those remedies tend to leave the pavement rather quickly, while the brine solution (barring rain) stays on the roads longer. Lastly, it does a better job overall than the previous treatments. One pound of salt can melt 48 pounds of ice in 30 degree weather according to Dale.
Brines also has the ability to prevent freezing in extremely cold temperatures, Dale pointed out. According to the DOT, there have been instances of 10 degree weather where the roads did not freeze over because of the brine.
Additionally, the 23 percent brine mixture that the DOT uses will not freeze until the temperature hits negative six degrees.
The DOT keeps a large amount of brine on hand for situations like last week. The agency can hold 150,000 gallons of brine in its storage tanks and another 50,000 gallons in the brine trucks, giving the DOT a maximum capacity of 200,000 gallons of brine.
To treat all the roads serviced by the DOT in the metro Atlanta area, it takes approximately 90,000 gallons. To replenish the supply, the DOT can manufacture about 3,500 gallons of brine solution per hour.
Nationally there have been critics of the brine solution and what it can do to our cars after we drive over and through the salty liquid. Those concerns stem from brine solutions that use magnesium chloride (a deicer) in addition to sodium chloride (salt). The Georgia Department of Transportation however does not use deicers in its brine.
“That’s a very important point, because magnesium chloride is much more corrosive than sodium chloride, the rock salt,” said Bob Baboian, an auto industry consultant and a fellow at the National Association of Corrosion Engineers told the Washington Post.
There is no doubt in my mind that the brine solution was very beneficial last week, but just to be on the safe side, you might want to get your car washed as soon as possible.
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