ALBANY, N.Y. — Salt is essential for this time of the year, but there’s a lot more to it.

Recently, the Department of Transportation began new phases of its salt reduction pilot program in Adirondack Park. This includes a new liquid-only snowplow route.

“We're always trying to use new technology that's out there, and the past two years or so we've had a bigger step going towards a salt brine,” Regional Director of Operations Michael Pawloski explained.

Salt brine as you’ve been seeing is liquid and not the traditional rock salt.

“That hits the road, and again, it doesn't do anything until it actually starts to get liquefied and turned into a salt brine," said Pawloski, based in Herkimer County. "Then it prevents snow and ice from sticking to the road or it actually melts that snow and ice off of the road.”

They’re learning through the salt reduction pilot program that it acts quicker since it’s liquid. They even use less of it.

“Based on the preliminary results of the pilots that we use all the past couple of years, we have about a 30% reduction in the amount of salt that it takes,” Pawloski explained.

He added that where it’s sprayed, it stays — unlike rock salt, which does a dance all over the roadway.

“Salt [is] about $70 a ton," he continued. "So any time you can use less salt, that there's certainly a good financial benefit to it as well.”

They make it themselves using rock salt and tap water. Until it’s needed, it’s stored in 6,000-gallon tanks.

“This is the actual spray bar," Pawloski showed. "You can see that there are 17 of these nozzles that all independently spray the salt brine down. The operator can change how much material comes out of the back.”

The trucks were used for rock salt but retrofitted. It’s a testament to the ever-changing world of treating roads.

“This year, we've invested in different equipment that allows us to look at the telemetry on the trucks," Director of Transportation Maintenance Rob Fitch said. "So now we can judge aside from some telemetry and the vehicle itself, how it's operating. We can also look at the material that's being spread out the back of the truck, primarily salt.”

According to the EPA, road salt can contaminate drinking water; hurt or even kill wildlife; increase soil erosion; and damage property. It’s not lost on DOT workers while they must keep the roads safe, they must do the same when it comes to the world around the road.

“You know, there's three parts to this equation," Fitch said. "Obviously, we need to maintain a good level of service. That's what the public expects us to have for our roadways. But they also expect us to be good environmental stewards and fiscally responsible.”

In Herkimer County, the chemistry continues in preparation for the next storm.

“Our typical application rate is about 40 gallons per lane mile,” Pawloski said.

The results of the pilot will come in this summer. But they do expect to keep testing and studying their programs to find new technologies to be more efficient, save money and protect the environment.

Why does brine work faster than rock salt? When rock salt is put down, it must melt into brine, and then it starts to work in preventing snow and ice from sticking to the road. Putting brine down instead eliminates that initial melting process so it can get to work right away.