Damn my perception of a lot must be really off. I'd been thinking that this seems like a lot less then I saw when I lived closer to boston.

It's honestly awful all throughout Mass, but I'm looking to start bringing about awareness to the problem.

Our tax dollars pay for roads, which are then destroyed by our tax paid salt and road workers, then our tax dollars pay for the new roads, and on and on.

It's a viscous cycle of a money pit that burdens the tax payer, when our local government should be looking for safer alternatives.

Sure, salt is cheap as hell, but there is certainly a cost/benefit factor that is being ignored here.

My question is, what costs the tax payer more?

• Paying to repave roads, repair our cars, and treat our land that deteriorated at an accelerated rate due to cheap road salt?
• Using a significantly less corrosive ice melt substance (at higher cost than salt), but preserving and extending the life of our roads, cars, and environment?

It's a worthwhile goal I don't disagree I'd honestly prefer we switch to sand and tire chains

My guess is that extra was used this time because of the rain/snow/wind/icing potential and they wanted to really make sure the roads were passable. It's like that way over in Nashua and surrounding areas too. Agreed on the salt impact, but I have no idea on the effectiveness of the alternatives.

I found a report comparing salt to an alternative, calcium magnesium acetate.

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11405/highway-deicing-comparing-salt-and-calcium-magnesium-acetate-comparing-salt

maybe you can tldr, because I'm not creating an account just to read it.

Dwight said beet juice works well, maybe look into that. (Seriously)

Somerset and Dighton have added a molasses mixture to their road salt that ultimately requires less salt to be used and eliminates the need to use sand. But it doesn't eliminate road salt entirely: https://www.mma.org/dighton-tries-using-molasses-for-winter-road-treatment/

Also great in Sundays

I’m all for using a eco friendly alternative. I don’t know much about it.

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I understand the need for it, but I also don't see why theres PILES OF IT in some places. It just seems to be distributed without much care sometimes unfortunately.

Its also a big issue for animals as well as local wildlife who walk in it. Again, I get the need for it, but it seems like there could be more discretion in its use and distribution.

I read through the report linked above, it basically comes down to too much of a safety trade off using a salt alternative.

People generally don’t care much for their cars, and the damage to infrastructure and environment is seen as fixable after the fact. Essentially, the death and injury/accident rate would increase under a salt alternative, which is seen as less favorable compared to preserving bridges and the environment.

So if there is to be a salt alternative, it would need to be almost nearly as effective if not better than salt would be right now.