Moncton's icy roads blamed on budget cuts and new road salt

As Moncton city councillorsconsiderwhether they've gone too far with cuts to the snow-clearing budget, some city staff say a new supply of road salt could be to blame.

Residents in Moncton complained to councillorslast week after unusually low temperatures and freezing rain left streets packed with snowand sidewalks that were treacherouslyicy.

• Slippery highways blamed on government cuts
• 'Anchor ice' on highways makes for white-knuckle travel

Coun.CharlesLeger said he's"never had that many phone calls or emails" from the public and referred to the city's St. George Street as a "skating rink."

The deputy mayor also said there'sa noticeable difference with the way crews are clearing snow this winter compared to last.

He suggested that council could be to blamefor making too many cuts to the snow clearing budget.

"We didn't see sand for days," said a frustrated Leger.

"Maybe we've gone too far nowand maybe we need to readjust."

But there's no doubt, he feels"residents are really frustrated."

"Simply to say thatit's weather related and everybody else is the same, I don't buy it."

Safety over budgets

Don Morehouse, the city's director of public works, assured council the roads were not in poor shape because of budget cuts.

"At no time will the city ever compromise our safety over a budget, that could be snow removal, flooding, salt," he said.

"If we need to do a job, we'll do what we have to do."

Morehousesaid the city isn't doing anything differently. However, crews are using a different salt oncity streets.

Heexplained the city needed to find a new supplier after the Picadilly mine in Sussex closed about two years ago.

This year Moncton"piggybacked" on a contract the province has with a Windsor Salt.But the new salt doesn't appear to be working as well.

Morehousewas careful in speaking about the Department of Transportation'ssalt supplier.

"We are seeing from feedback from our operators there's a different performance of the salt," he said.

Weather plays a factor

Morehouse said Windsor Salt comes from the Magdalene Islands and is shipped to the port in Saint John. The weather is also playing a factor in poor road conditions, he said.

"Weather has been a big factor, temperatures have been 17 C, 20 C without the wind chill for long periods of time."

Simply to say thatit'sweather related and everybody else is the same, I don't buy it.-Coun.CharlesLeger

Morehouse said chunks of ice along the road's surface made for bumpy, slippery conditions on many side streets in the city.

But the city is planning to ramp upa proactive de-icing solution.

Thisinvolves spraying streets with a salty solution before storms hit. Meanwhile, anew truck is being outfitted with the ability to deliver the brine.

The city said the salt will come from a different supplier based out of Nova Scotia.Eventually, the two salts will becomparedandthe best one will be used on Moncton'sstreets.

"I don't know what we did differently but we need to fix it," said Morehouse.