9 am: 60°FSunny

11 am: 67°FSunny

1 pm: 70°FSunny

3 pm: 71°FSunny

More Weather

Print | E-mail to a friend NEWS BRIEFS

Kentucky town finds way to 'beet' icy roads

November 27, 2008 @ 02:17 PM

MAYSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A northeastern Kentucky town may have found a new way to “beet” icy road conditions in winter with a vegetable-based compound.


Maysville Public Works Director Jim Fryman says the city will be using geomelt, a concentrate primarily made out of beets to treat icy roads, along with the traditional salt.


The city made the move in part because of a shortage of salt and skyrocketing prices for the commodity. This year salt has increased in price from $51 per ton in 2007 to $103 per ton in 2008, Young says. Young says last year 780 tons of salt was purchased from Morton and a small amount of that purchase was left over.


Fryman tells The Ledger Independent in Maysville that the city paid about $2.85 per ton for the geomelt it has in two storage units.