Butler County Engineer
Dean C. Foster broke ground today on a new salt dome that will
increase on-site storage capacity by three and a half times.
The new storage facility, located on the grounds of the the BCEO,
is scheduled for completion by early Summer and will hold 6,500
tons of salt as compared with the 1,800-ton facility now in use.
"The more salt
we can have on hand before a winter storm develops the better,"
Foster noted. "It obviously reduces the risk of running
out and will also allow us to better help other jurisdictions
should their supplies become low."
The Engineer's Office
plans and budgets for enough salt to get crews through most winter
storms; however, problems have occasionally surfaced with getting
timely shipments from salt suppliers in Cincinnati. A two-week
siege of severe winter weather last January resulted in dwindling
supplies and difficulties getting salt loaded onto trucks for
transporting to local agencies. That prompted Foster to hire
his own trucking companies to expedite salt deliveries directly
to the BCEO. Five years ago during a particularly harsh January
the Ohio River froze, preventing salt barges from being able
to reach the Port of Cincinnati.
Foster said a larger
salt facility has been in the works for a couple of years. The
BCEO treats 267 miles of County roads and frequently supplies
salt to other local governments in critical situations.
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