City prepares to weather salt shortage, weekend forecast By STEPHANIE UJHELYIsujhelyi@the-review Published: January 25, 2014 3:00AM Alliance Street Superintendent Kenny Rhome ordered 1,000 tons of road salt 24 days ago and hasnt received a lick of it yet. The Carnation City is one of many northeast Ohio municipalities conserving salt due to supply delivery issues. In fact, city Safety-Service Director W. John Gross is hoping for the best, but anticipating the worst, as two weekend snow bursts are expected to drop between 4 and 12 inches on the area over the weekend. Gross has announced an emergency route parking ban, effective until further notice. After all, when you only have between 150 and 200 tons of salt and it takes 80 to 100 to go through town once, playing it safe is the smartest route. Emergency routes include Glamorgan Street, Sawburg Avenue, State Street, Freshley Avenue, Union Avenue, Arch Avenue, Freedom Avenue, Rosemont Road, Western Avenue, Electric Boulevard, 24th Street, Rockhill Avenue, Parkway Boulevard, Fernwood Boulevard, Overlook Drive, the Viaduct, Main Street, Ely Street, Vine Street, Lincoln Avenue, Cambridge Street, Patterson Street, Noble Street, Rush Street, Webb Avenue, River Street, Walnut Avenue, Rice Street, Market Street, Liberty Avenue, Mahoning Avenue, Broadway Street, Summit Street, Milner Street, Vincent Street and College Street. Anyone found parking on these streets can be towed. Forecasts were calling for 2 to 6 inches by this morning. Then, after a brief break, another clipper, as Gross fondly refers to them, is expected to dump between another 2 to 6 inches on Alliance. We are going to have to concentrate on the emergency routes with what little salt we have, keeping them open and de-iced. We will be salting up some intersections for secondary roads, so people dont slide through them, Gross added. The salt shortage is being felt throughout the area, with the city of Salem drawing attention to the issue earlier this week. In fact, Salem Service/Safety Director Ken Kenst called Gross to see if Alliance was experiencing the same thing. However, it turned out that if Salem was kind of hinting about salt, the Quaker City was in a better position. According to media reports, Salem had around 350 tons left, and like Rhome, still has an unsatisfied 600 tons not yet received from Morton Salt, which won the bid to supply the Ohio Department of Transportations Districts 4 and 5 with road salt this year. Rhome discussed the snow battle plan for this weekend. We have intentions of putting very little salt down and mostly plowing (due to the quantity problems). Morton can produce up to 10,000 tons per day and the ODOT price includes delivery, but apparently Morton is having difficulty getting it delivered. And the delivery company isnt willing to spread the wealth with other potential contractors to satisfy the need. Rhome said that under the ODOT contract, delivery is to be within seven days of order. He is still waiting on two orders totaling 1,000 tons since New Years Eve and still hasnt seen any of it. And under the ODOT contract, the supplier can be penalized $50 per day for failing to deliver within those seven days. In the case of Alliances two missing salt deliveries, that could amount to $17,000 as of this weekend. Alliances salt bin is barely filled, with 150 to 200 tons at best, and the trucks deposit 40 to 50 tons on the emergency routes on one pass, so the street superintendent offers this advice: Stay home and off the roads so we can do our jobs.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 11:41:55 +0000
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