Out-of-state trucks line up outside Taunton salt depot

[unhappycamper]

http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20140207/NEWS/140206980/1994/NEWS



Trucks line up to wait for loads of salt, while others exit the Cushman Street salt yards in Taunton Friday morning.

Out-of-state trucks line up outside Taunton salt depot

TAUNTON — For the many dozens of truck drivers, who for two days straight have lined up on Taunton's Cushman Street, rock salt is worth its weight in gold.

This winter's cold temperatures and icy conditions have resulted in a general shortage of rock salt throughout the country's entire northeast.

As a result, drivers from New York, Connecticut and other states have been flocking to Taunton since Thursday to load up on rock salt that arrives via rail from a huge salt mine just south of Rochester, N.Y.

~snip~

He said just one in three of the trucks coming to Taunton are from New England. The rest are from trucking companies serving the Tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

[Beachwood]

1. What is the effect upon our environment with all this yearly dose of salt?

And are other chemicals better for our roads, metal bridges, rivers and streams and fields and forest-lands next to our roads?

I have often questionned why the first thing my condo manager puts down is salt and sand (in January) on my pathway to my parting lot, (next to the lawns we have a problem keeping alive and green in June.)

Multiply that 6 foot difficulty of grass and flowers to survive next to my condo walkway (if we didn't get good rains in March and April), times the hundreds of millions of acres of forests, fields, rivers, lakes, ponds streams next to northern American country roads.

Is using salt to melt our ice for a couple days in January a good answer for our flora and water supplies in the long run?

Just asking. Does someone have some numbers and statistics to look at about this issue? I see lots of dead tree branches around Route 2 or next to the Mass Pike from Boston to W. Mass on my drives in July. Aren't we shooting ourselves in the foot just a bit?

Yes, we don't want drivers to have a fatal spin-out on ice on our roadways in January. Yes, we love to drive to work at 7 am and be able to go 65 from Natick to Boston, but at what price to our environment, lakes, streams forests?