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Damages Caused by Road Salt

Every winter in cold climates around the United States, harsh winter weather and snow storms are preempted by a coating of road salt lining the highways of every cold weather town to prevent the roads from freezing over and potentially endangering all those who drive on them. However, there is currently some debate over whether or not the salt being used to protect drivers is actually harming the environment or the health of the public.

  1. Harming the Environment

    • Approximately 10 million tons of road salt is dropped on roads throughout the country each winter. Although it might succeed in helping to keep roads clear of hazardous snow and ice, it could be harming our environment and killing our plants and wildlife. The most commonly used road salt, sodium chloride, is inexpensive and easy to produce in large amounts, but it is also the worst kind of salt for the environment.

    Types of Damage

    • In addition to harming the environment, road salt can also do a great deal of structural damage to highways and roadways all over the country. The sodium chloride variety of road salt has the capability to put large potholes in the road, and it can break down concrete and asphalt over time, ruining road surfaces, bridges and parking lots and even damaging vehicles.

      Road salt can also kill plant life and harm or kill wildlife who ingest the salt or have the salt get into their food supply or drinking water by contaminating ground water or soil.

      There have also been studies showing that road salt may contain carcinogens and can be responsible for causing cancer in people who are frequently in contact with it.

    Cost of Damage

    • The damage that road salt can do has been estimated at around $7 billion each year. This total is composed of the damage consistently done to roadways and highway infrastructures, as well as the damage done to cars.

    Possible Solutions

    • Some proposed solutions for the damage that road salt causes would be to cut down on the usage of sodium chloride on roadways during the winter months and refraining from using salt unless it is absolutely necessary. In addition, a solution proposed by the New York Department of Transportation offers the possibility of paving roads with a more porous kind of asphalt that would absorb the salts and chemicals and keep them from running off into groundwater or soil.

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