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Keeping roads and highways clear of ice and snow isn’t
as hard as it used to be with the new technologies and products available.
Cargill Salt
 SafeLane, formerly known as SmartLane, is
Cargill’s
new aggregate-based anti-icing pavement overlay system that stores and
automatically releases deicer during frost and ice events, virtually
eliminating ice on bridge decks and roadways, according to the company.
The
program creates savings in a number of ways: increased traction helps to
reduce costly accidents; diminished need to follow inclement weather means
callouts and overtime pay can be better contained; total deicing chemical
use is decreased, creating less runoff into the local environment; and using
less deicing chemicals, combined with the protective overlay epoxy found in
the product, also reduces the effects of chloride and water intrusion.
Click 17 on
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Surface Systems, Inc./Quixote
Transportation Technologies
Active surface sensor
 Surface Systems, Inc., a member of Quixote
Transportation Technologies, Inc., recently converted to a new model of its
Active Surface Sensor. The new model improves the capabilities of the sensor
by increasing its operating temperature range from -4 to 32 degrees F. The
sensor measures freeze-point temperature regardless of chemical type or
mixture. When used with SSI’s FP 2000 pavement sensor, the two provide
valuable pavement data readings.
Active sensors have become popular in locations with
a Fixed Anti-Icing Spray System controlled by an RWIS. The RWIS and active
sensor monitor the pavement and, when conditions warrant, the spray system
is activated. Other applications include bridges, overpasses, high traffic
areas, and north-facing ramps.
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Dultmeier Sales
Salt treatment system
 A new salt treatment system from
Dultmeier Sales
provides a simple, accurate method of enhancing salt with any number of
liquid products. The system uses a unique corrosion-resistant auger (PVC
tube, polyethylene flyghting, stainless shaft) with injection ports,
injection pump, flowmeter, plumbing, and storage tank. Injecting the liquids
directly into the auger provides precision accuracy, uniform salt treatment,
high production rates, and is environmentally safe (no liquid runoff). The
system features adjustable, customer-specific application rates to treat up
to 50 tons per hour.
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Component Technology
Spreader control system
 Component Technology’s
Stormguard Freedom MDC
Control System is specially designed for spreader and plow applications for
the medium-duty truck market. The system provides remote operator control of
electric over hydraulic functions. Functions combine the proportional
spreader including the auger and spinner, the truck hoist, and the snowplow.
The system consists of a spreader module, a plow/hoist control module, and
an output module. Modules are connected by a power and ground wire and
communicate to one another through a high-speed serial bus system.
Click 19 on
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Turbo Technologies, Inc.
Ice-control sprayers
 Turbo Technologies’ Ice Control Sprayers are
available in sizes from 30 gallons for ATVs to 1,600-gallon, truck-mounted
units. The sprayer features a turret boom that allows you to quickly change
from a fan spray to a straight spray, or change from a nozzle for low-speed
work to one for highways.
The sprayers can also be equipped with a spray gun
to deice sidewalks, steps, and areas where you can’t drive. Spray patterns
include fan nozzles, straight nozzles, and extender (boomless) nozzles that
allow you to spray three lanes at a time.
Click 21 on
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Calum International
Deicing products
Calum International has developed a group of deicers
for all types of winter conditions. The products — CALSO 98, NORMIX, and
MAGSO flake — as well as a wide range of blended materials, are offered in a
variety of packages and in bulk form. These products are tested and
performance proven in some of Canada’s most demanding winter conditions.
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Tiger Calcium Services Inc.
 Tiger Calcium Services developed a corrosion
inhibited liquid form of calcium chloride and magnesium chloride brine for
anti-icing and pre-wetting at extremely low temperatures down to -49 degrees
F. Road Guard Plus meets or exceeds all Pacific Northwestern Snowfighting
specifications, including chemical analysis, corrosion rate, minor element
purity requirements, toxicity tests, friction, and BOD tests. The active
ingredients for deicing are 26.5% calcium chloride, 3.1% magnesium chloride,
and 2.2% alkaline chlorides including sodium chloride and potassium
chloride, for a total of 3.6% active anti-icer/deicer ingredients. The
product consists of 8% highly effective corrosion inhibitors, which results
in a corrosion rate 85% lower than sodium chloride, according to the
company.
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Verglimit
Anti-ice road surfacing
An important winter maintenance innovation,
Verglimit is a chemical multi-component deicer that is added to the top
course mix of bituminous surfacing. The product consists primarily of
deicing salts and caustic soda. It is added cold, directly into the
pug-mill, during or after the asphalt cement addition. Placing is done
conventionally with compaction being the most important criterion.
A Verglimit surface helps reduce the amount of salt
used on roadways and, in certain conditions, can eliminate salting entirely
if mechanical snow removal is intensified, according to the company. Its use
on bridges and overpasses cuts down or eliminates the amount of salting
required, thereby reducing corrosion and giving them a substantially longer
life. Pavement quality is as good, or better, as that of normal pavement and
the product remains active during the whole life span of the road surface.
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Dow Chemical Company
Deicers and corrosion technical review
Dow Chemical Company has published Deicers and
Corrosion: A Technical Review, a technical white paper on the issues of
deicers and corrosion to help users understand the science and available
third-party research that’s been conducted on the topic. Data from
Washington State, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the Pacific
Northwest Department of Transportation that compare the corrosion potential
and performance of various deicers is included.
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Sprayer Solutions
Brine maker
Sprayer Solutions’ continuous-batch brine maker
produces over 5,000 gallons of quality brine per hour automatically and
consistently. The automation circuit has built-in intelligent controls and
self-diagnostic features, as well as sensors that enable the PLC to
determine if an item is functioning correctly. Cleaning out the system is
simple — the operator opens valves allowing sediment to be flushed to and
out of the built-in sump. The marine-grade fiberglass tank is durable and noncorrosive, and will hold up in harsh operating environments.
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Boschung America
 Boschung America’s new product in their line of
Fixed Automated Spray Technology is the MicroFast System. This system has
very little hardware that needs mounting and there is no need to core-drill
bridge decks. Installation time is short and economical. The micro spray
nozzle is installed in a saw cut, is maintenance free, and delivers a fine,
non-interfering spray that is virtually invisible to drivers. Coverage of
the surface is achieved by automatically adjusting the spray time from 30
seconds up to 3 minutes, depending on conditions.
 Because the MicroFast spray strips are typically
installed in the center of the road and sub-surface mounted, they are
protected from the constant pounding and friction of roadway traffic and
snowplows.
The system is especially suited for troublesome road surface
areas such as tunnel entrances and exits, bridge decks, toll booths, short
steep hills, and sharp curves.
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Reprinted from Better Roads Magazine
June 2005 |
