Edmonton ‘business as usual’ for icy road cleanup, not considering bringing back calcium chloride: Knack

A local mechanic says Edmonton-area drivers should take care of their vehicles to avoid rust from chemicals used in snowclearing.

As snow settles in the city, crews will be out sanding and scraping roads and pavement as needed, but they’re continuing the trend of limiting calcium chloride on the roads in a move that aims to balance road safety and motorist complaints.

In 2020, city council opted to remove the chemical de-icer from rotation after complaints of damage to vehicle undercarriages and infrastructure like waterways and property.

On Wednesday, Mayor Andrew Knack explained its use was stopped on roads after a city-wide pilot that increased the amount of calcium chloride used “in line with what almost every other city in Canada uses.”

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“It was not popular amongst Edmontonians,” he said. “Even though it made a measurable difference in safety, folks were not keen to continue that.”

Knack added the city will be “business as usual” for icy road cleanup and he’s “heard no appetite” to revisit using calcium chloride in excess amounts.

Don Meister, the owner of Buddy’s Garage, told CTV News Edmonton on Friday that even a little bit of chemicals on the road can rust a vehicle – echoing many of the concerns council heard years ago.

“Once it starts to rust, the paint starts to peel, and then just seems to get worse faster,” Meister said.

Meister suggests, no matter what’s being put on the roads, to “get that stuff off” your car by going to a car wash, using a pressure washer and paying extra attention to inside wheel wells.

“(The wheel wells) is where it’ll sit, and then it rusts … and you don’t notice it until after it’s too late,” he said.

Currently, road crews use a mixture of sand, salt, rock chips (which are being phased out, according to the city) and calcium chloride brine.

The city’s snow and ice report for 2024 said weather fluctuations combined with road and temperature conditions influence the amount of sand and salt applied each year as “safety for users is always the top priority for crews.”

The city website also says about 12 to 18 per cent of what’s applied to the roads annually is salt – already making Edmonton one of the lowest salt users among major cities in Canada.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Gates Guarin