Chloride-based deicers are used to maintain safe and passable roadways and pedestrian facilities, as well as to treat parking lots. Winter chloride management encompasses so much of winter maintenance operations, from storage, capacity, application methods and rates, plowing routes and timing, training, the triple bottom line (economic, social, and environmental considerations), data collection, and operations assessment. This talk will present winter chloride management strategies as a changing practice, incorporating new technologies and products, and the intersection of these changes and improvements leading to reductions in operational impacts.
Laura Fay, a Senior Research Scientist and Program Manager at the Western Transportation Institute (WTI) at Montana State University (MSU), has conducted and led research in the fields of winter maintenance operations and low volume roads since 2006. She manages the Cold Climates & Operations laboratory on MSUs campus. She has dedicated her career to supporting state, federal, and local transportation agencies in the identification and implementation of best practices through applied research. She served 9 years on the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Winter Maintenance Committee (AKR40) and is the current committee chair for the TRB Low Volume Roads Committee (AKD30). Laura’s technical background was developed from gaining an M.S. in Environmental Science and Health from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a B.S. in Earth Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz.