THUNDER BAY -- The two cities have similar weather and similar road conditions in the winter, but what works in Winnipeg for de-icing streets and sidewalks isn't necessarily a good fit for Thunder Bay.
While the Manitoba capital plans to expand its use of beet juice to replace salt and sand, a City of Thunder Bay official says tests have shown it's not a practical alternative here.
In a pilot project started in 2015, Winnipeg has been using a mixture of half de-sugared beet molasses and half a combination of salt brine to keep ice off roads on the east side of the city.
It's applicable for anti-icing—liquid on the surface deters ice from forming—and de-icing, where it's used as a pre-wetting liquid that helps a salt/sand mixture stick to the ground.
Winnipeg officials say salt brine is only effective to a temperature of -12C but the beet juice combo works at temperatures into the minus 30s.
This past winter it was used at 37 bridges and underpasses and on over 140 kilometres of roadway. "It's proven to be very effective," said Cheryl Anderson, acting manager of streets maintenance for the City of Winnipeg.
Anderson told local media that the beet juice mixture will be deployed in additional areas of the city.
Brad Adams, roads manager for the City of Thunder Bay, said the city looked at a beet juice product in 2015/2016. However, whereas Winnipeg uses salt brine, Thunder Bay uses liquid calcium chloride as a pre-wetting agent.
"Just by itself, the calcium chloride is more...I don't want to say more effective, but it performs to a lower temperature," Adams told Tbnewswatch.
He said the city would also need to acquire separate tanks to store the beet juice. "There's a lot of plumbing and pumps that go along with that because you've got to keep circulating that product, so there's a lot of ongoing maintenance with that."
Adams noted that one other challenge is that there are no local suppliers, meaning the beet juice would have to be shipped from Manitoba, at a higher cost than the city pays for the products it currently uses.
But he said the city will continue to look into winter road maintenance methods that are more efficient and more environmentally friendly.
In Calgary, where beet brine is also being introduced, a city official has noted that it's less corrosive than regular road salt, and other communities that have tried it have found they need less of it than regular salt mixtures, which in turn cuts costs.
The City of Toronto has used beet juice to reduce its use of salt by about 120,000 tonnes a year.
