Kevin Goldfuss likes what he sees so far.
The director of municipal services for the City of Williams Lake has done a couple of interviews with different media outlets recently discussing a beet-juice anti-icing solution being tested on roads in the city, located about 90 kilometres north of 100 Mile House.
Beet 55 is a mixture of 40 per cent beet concentrate and 60 per cent salt brine. When applied before a storm, it keeps ice and snow from bonding to the road and becoming compacted, and staff can plow the street basically down to the pavement, Goldfuss explains.
He says the natural product is less corrosive and less expensive than the magnesium chloride solution the city was using before. Williams Lake looked to Beet 55 to cut down on the use of salt and sand and make snow removal easier. The sugar-beet juice and saline mix looks brown and is described as slightly sticky and sweet-smelling.
“Everything we're seeing to date looks really good. We're still testing it.
“I haven't made a final decision if we're going to continue to use it, but we're really like what we're seeing.”
Goldfuss adds if it's working in Williams Lake, there's a good chance it can work in 100 Mile House, where the elevation is higher, but the climate is similar.
Phil Doddridge, quality manager with Interior Roads, the road and bridge contractor for the South and Central Cariboo, says he's aware of the growing usage of Beet 55 and similar products. (It's used on roads in the Merritt area, throughout the Midwestern United States, and in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.)
Doddridge says the 100 Mile House and Williams Lake climates are different enough that the effect of Beet 55 is still unpredictable here.
“We have a bunch of microclimates all packed in together,” he says of the South Cariboo. “Without trial and more evidence, I don't want to jeopardize conditions on the highway.”
For now, salt and sand remain the best options for maintaining roads in the 100 Mile House area, he adds.
However, Doddridge says he won't say “never” when it comes to Beet 55.
“People are always trying to come up with a better, faster and stronger way to maintain highways. I won't say we won't try it in a limited area, but we have to stick with what we know works.”