In 2020, New York state created a task force to study the impacts of winter salt application on roads in the Adirondacks and make recommendations for best practices. Its report was issued last September. A panel discussion was held in Tupper Lake last week to discuss potential next steps toward implementation.
The report from the task force, as required by the Randy Preston Road Salt Reduction Act, included salt reduction recommendations and possible management practices, but no implementation plan or methodology.
Researchers, advocates and state agency representatives recently met in Tupper Lake to discuss what has been happening since the report was issued.
Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Water Assistant Director A.J. Smith noted that an analysis of four years of water quality data has found chloride increasing and negatively impacting the sensitive ecosystems of the Adirondack Park.
“We've identified a major issue: an increasing trend in the concentration of chloride statewide including in the Adirondacks,” Smith said. “And it's something that we need to start to identify the various sources including road salt, there may be some other sources. And I think the road salt taskforce was a major component of the solution. And then the second piece were things like the need for funding. Municipalities that have, you know, their operations applying road salt need funding to be able to handle the best management practices that we are recommending in the taskforce. And that funding needs to be widely accessible. it's something that we're starting to look at to try and make that funding available to pay for best management practice implementation.”
Road salt reduction is a priority issue for ADK Action. Executive Director Sawyer Bailey says a long-term, statewide reduction strategy is necessary.
“We need to create some sort of supportive body for accountability to create the roadmap for implementation,” Bailey said. “So in order to keep building on progress, we need agencies to come together and experts from across the state to come together to say what's the game plan going to be for the rubber meeting the road on this work. Apart from that, New York is one of the only states in the Northeast that doesn't have a chloride threshold. So let's think where do we start with that. And then from there, we need to be thinking about implementation. We’re so thrilled to see the state making progress on the pilots. That feels like the most important thing to continue. But how do we begin charting a course for implementation and all the other great recommendations in the report? And then how do we scale that by 2030 to the whole rest of New York State? And then, finally, how are we going to pay for it?”
Lake George officials have been assessing the use of road salt with a reduction pilot on Route 9N. A study on the first four years of that pilot was just released, according to Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky. He says both reports point to several initiatives that should be implemented beyond the current pilot projects.
“I am hoping that we can start hosting the strategic working groups that we used to have,” Navitsky said. “We had the Adirondack Road Salt Working Group with DOT (Department of Transportation), with DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation), with elected officials, with the not for profits. I think we need to reinitiate those. The public reach out I think is very important. And as Sawyer said the funding is going to be big. We are now into budget season and we need to raise these issues up.”
Hamilton County Superintendent of Public Works Tracy Eldridge says any reduction in the use of road salt has to consider public expectations.
“This really is a societal problem that we started 40 years ago that we expect we're going to travel 65 miles an hour no matter what,” Eldridge said. “We can't have that expectation anymore. And we had an accident on one of our county roads this this winter. A van went through a turn. We're plowing and it went through the turn broadsided our truck and the driver of the vehicle said, boy, it's slippery out here! Really? That's the kind of attitude. Slowdown. Our main charge is to provide a reasonably safe road for the reasonably safe driver. I don't like using salt on the roads. I see what it does to our equipment, our bridges, our roads. I see that. But not everybody does.”
