Road Weather Management Program
photos of lightning, trucks plowing snow, an empty road before a storm, and an evacuation
Office of Operations 21st century operations using 21st century technologies

Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Title:

Assessment of Safecote: New Deicer Product

Abstract:

Safecote Ltd, a company based in the United Kingdom, introduced a new deicer product based on extensive experience of its application in the United States and with the potential to help reduce chemical contamination of the environment. In 2000, Transportation Research Laboratory (TRL) Limited was commissioned to investigate the effect of this deicer product, when used in precautionary salting, as an additive or prewetting agent for salt products. As a prewetting agent to salt, the primary aims are to reduce the chloride component of the treatment in order to mitigate against the damaging effects of salt to the environment and to reduce the level of damage that occurs to both concrete and steel when chloride-based deicers are used for winter maintenance. The study was carried out in the two phases and various properties of Safecote were evaluated. In Phase 1, the evaluation included freeze/thaw damage to concrete, skid resistance and binder stripping of asphalt surfacing, corrosion of steel and aluminium coupons, and environmental impact. The Phase 2, the evaluation included freezing point temperature (FPT) depression, environmental assessment: highway runoff and leaching, skid resistance of asphalt surfacings, application and spreading characteristics, as well as ice melt, ice penetration, and ice undercutting. This paper summarizes the findings from both phases of the study.

Source(s):

6th International Symposium on Snow Removal and Ice Control Technology, Transportation Research Circular, No. E-C063

http://trb.org/publications/circulars/ec063.pdf

Date: 2004

Author:

Burtwell

Keywords:


Environment
Winter maintenance

PDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader®.

Office of Operations