Application Rates: When and Where to Apply Salt
When to salt
Clear snow early and often. Fresh snow is easiest to remove. Begin snow removal early in the storm and return periodically to clear new snowfall. This prevents deep accumulation and reduces the risk of snow compaction and ice formation. Avoid walking or driving on parking lots, sidewalks, or drives prior to clearing snow. Footsteps and tire tracks compact the snow which creates icy areas. These areas take more effort and deicer to clear.
Remove as much snow and ice as possible. Plow, blow, broom, shovel, and scrape to remove snow and ice. Doing so reduces the amount of salt needed, if any is needed at all. One example of a tool that does a great job of removing ice off pavement is an Ultimate Scraper. It has a flexible thin blade that gets under the ice, pushes it up, and breaks it up.
Salt is used to melt through the ice or snowpack to break the bond so mechanical removal will be easier. It should not be used to melt all the snow.
Once the pavement is cleared, consider where salt may be needed. Apply salt to remaining icy patches where bare pavement is needed.
Avoid applying salt during a snow event. Any salt applied while snow is still falling will be covered and pushed into snow piles. With the exception of critical areas such as at stop signs or at the main building entrance, it is wasteful to apply salt while it continues to snow, and the salt will end up in our waters.
Where to salt
Plan for how your property(ies) will be maintained in the winter. Create a site map that identifies size of maintenance areas, poor drainage areas, obstacles, salt and snow storage areas, and desired levels of service. This can help with winter maintenance planning, including equipment selection, deicing product choices, and application strategies. If there is excess parking, consider blocking off those areas for winter.
Determine where bare pavement is needed and where plowing alone may be adequate. Parking lots are often maintained by plowing the whole lot but treating only the drive lanes.
Consider temporarily closing or providing minimum maintenance to areas that are not commonly used in winter, such as back doors, side entrances, secondary stairs or parts of wide stairways or overflow parking areas. Clearly marking these areas can help direct people to the safest, best-maintained route while reducing the amount of pavement requiring clearing and salting.