Lowell employs new process to drastically reduce road salt costs

Over the past several winters, Lowell has contained ice-removal costs by using a commercial product designed to apply salt to city streets in a more efficient fashion.

The electronic spreader control system uses GPS tracking and other data to help public works crews target the areas where de-icing is most needed. Ed Patenaude, Lowell’s deputy commissioner of streets, said the system analyzes the type and amount of snow or other precipitation, allowing workers to apply salt more judiciously.

Patenaude said that in the past, Lowell was dropping roughly 1,000 tons of salt during a typical winter storm. The process now in place, he said, has reduced the tonnage by roughly 60 percent, with only about 400 tons of salt typically being deployed.

Total salt-related costs this past winter in Lowell totaled just over $720,000, according to Patenaude. He estimated that without the control system, the overall cost would have been around $1.15 million.

The process also reduces fuel costs for spreader trucks, because drivers don’t have to return to the salt shed as frequently, Patenaude added.

In addition, the technology is designed to shut off when a truck stops at a stoplight or stop sign, preventing the waste of salt that would be deposited while trucks were idling.

Lowell, which learned of the Cirus Controls product through a state seminar for public works officials, introduced the product during the winter of 2011-12. The city, according to Patenaude, happened to have a surplus in its snow-and-ice account that year and used the money to buy additional spreader-control systems.