Highways and thoroughfares will be the top priority, and once those are safe for travel, the city will focus on treating hills and intersections.
The city will clear residential streets only when they have 4 inches or more of snow on them. The city plans only to plow these streets and not use salt.
In order to manage the limited supplies, the city also plans to reduce the amount of salt it uses to treat roads to about 100 to 300 pounds per lane mile from 500 to 600 pounds, said Fred Stovall, Dayton’s director of public works.
“We’re going to have slushy roads, but our goal again would be to make them driveable,” he said.
Municipalities across the region are being forced to cope with limited road salt supplies, stemming from large demand and depleted reserves after last winter’s unusually snowy and icy weather.
Dayton is one of many local communities that purchase salt through a regional cooperative, which sought more than 250,000 tons of the product this year. But salt suppliers could not fill the order, and the cooperative received just about 63,000 tons.
The city has ordered another shipment of salt, which will double its supply, but the order may not arrive before the first snowfall.
Even if the delivery comes soon, the city does not plan to stray from its new guidelines.
That’s because Dayton used about 18,430 tons of salt last year, but it could have easily used 25,000 tons if its supplies had not run low, Stovall said. He said the city assumes it will have only about 8,900 tons to last through the winter.
During bad weather, highways are the foremost concern, and the city will try to clear at least one lane of all snow and ice, down to the bare pavement, Stovall said.
But the city’s 102 public works drivers will be instructed to avoid reapplying salt multiple times to most roadways, which means it could take longer for snow and ice to melt along the city’s 1,718 lane miles.
The city will also focus on clearing thoroughfares, including Main Street, Third Street, Salem Avenue and Smithville Road, as well as roads in the Central Business District.
But Stovall said motorists should not expect to see bare pavement very often during storms.
“Our goal is the roads will be slushy, but they will be trackable, so if you have good tread on your tires, and you are taking your time, you should be able to get through,” he said.
Once the main roads are in a safe driving condition, crews will focus on hills and intersections, Stovall said. Residential streets will be a lower priority, and crews will plow them only after four inches or more of snow accumulates.
However, each storm is different and the city will monitor the weather and the road conditions to adapt its treatment plan to the severity of the ice and snow while factoring in the remaining amount of salt, he said.
The city also plans to rely on a beet juice brine mixture. Last winter, the city used 140,000 gallons of the substance, which helps accelerate the melting process, requiring the use of less salt.
Commissioner Joey Williams said the city must remind residents routinely during the winter months of the new snow-removal plans so they can adjust their driving behaviors.
Motorists should leave earlier and drive slower during and after storms, and it is wise to avoid traveling too closely to other vehicles, officials said.
“This is not a Dayton issue — this is something being faced certainly throughout all of Ohio,” Williams said.
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