BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The salt barns are full and road workers in suburban counties are ready if winter ever decides to let loose.
Road officials in Warren, Butler and Clermont counties said they've stocked up on salt to keep roads passable when snow comes. "We haven't used any but I'm sure we will. The thing about winter is, it's so unpredictable," Warren County Engineer Neil Tunison said.
Warren County has 3,000 tons of salt in stock to treat 280 miles of county roads. That is about the amount spread last year, even though the county authorizes purchase of up to 8,000 tons of salt, Mr. Tunison said.
Workers were put on alert earlier this week when forecasters called for 2 or more inches of snow that never appeared.
"We didn't load the trucks up, but were anticipating having to go out. We weren't going to be surprised. We were surprised that we didn't have to go out. It's a nice Christmas present," Mr. Tunison said.
In Clermont County, three salt bins in Batavia and in Miami and Washington townships are full, said Dennis Meguire, highway operations manager for the engineer's office there. The The county is responsible for treating 382 miles of road.
The county also keeps salt trucks at the Washington Township site so drivers can roll out at a moment's notice, he said.
"Since we have such a large, diverse county, we store trucks at the Washington Township to reduce the response time," Mr. Meguire said.
Butler County spot-treated some areas with salt earlier this week after a heavy rain and dropping temperatures caused a few slick patches.
Butler has 800 to 1,000 tons of salt on hand. That's less than a third of the amount it takes to treat 267 miles of road during an average winter, but enough for now, said Chris Petrocy, spokesman for the Butler County Engineer's Office. "We're ready to go if winter ever decides to give us a blast," he said. "But around here anymore it's pretty inconsistent."
