A road salt-brine mixture studied at West Virginia University will be among the latest snow-clearing techniques showcased at the Eastern Winter Road Maintenance Symposium and Equipment Expo Sept. 4-5 at the Charleston Civic Center.


The annual expo gives winter maintenance managers and public works officials the opportunity to examine the latest equipment and learn the newest techniques available to help in snow and ice control, pavement rehabilitation, maintaining an appropriate fleet and materials storage.


Sponsors are the U.S. Department of Transportations Federal Highways Administration, the West Virginia Department of Transportation, WVU s West VirginiaTransportationTechnologyTransferCenter and the Local Technical Assistance Program.


The FHWA established the expo after a January 1996 winter storm buried the northeastern United States in snow, dumping more than 30 inches of the white stuff in some areas and bringing road travel to an abrupt halt as maintenance crews worked round-the-clock to clear streets and highways. The expos objective is to ensure that public works agencies are better prepared for Old Man Winters next onslaught.


Officials from Morgantown and Fairmont will be on hand to sing the praises of adding brine to road salt to melt snow and ice from roads. For the past few years, those two cities and Philippi, in cooperation with researchers from WVU s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, have been using the mixture, which melts winters fury quicker than salt alone.


Brine is saltwater that is sometimes present with oil and natural gas when they rise to the surface during drilling operations. Researchers at WVU have been studying the use of brine in snow and ice control since the 1980s.


For more information about the Eastern Winter Road Maintenance Symposium and Equipment Expo, go tohttp://www.easternsnowexpo.org/.