The use of salt on roads in and around Anchorage varies.
Alaska’s long, cold and snowy winters can make for driving mayhem.
Around 15 years ago, the Municipality of Anchorage, which is in charge of maintaining more than half of roads in Anchorage, decided to stop the widespread use of salt in favor of sand, essentially small pieces of aggregate gravel, according to Paul VanLandingham, street maintenance manager for the city.
The salt ends up running into local creeks and streams that feed Cook Inlet and can hurt fish and other wildlife, said Kristi Bischofberger, watershed manager for the municipality. That’s not to say the city avoids salt usage altogether. They use a type of liquid salt called magnesium chloride instead in targeted ways, like during freeze-thaw cycles that ice up the road and in hillier areas, according to VanLandingham.
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