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IRON COUNTY -- The snow is fast approaching and in some parts of the U.P., it's already here.  What methods are your county road commissions using to keep the roads clear besides the usual salt and sand mixture?

Salt is usually the recipe used for de-icing the roads.  However, some road departments have taken things a step further with alternative methods.

Baraga County uses a chemical called chloride or brine which is added to the salt just before it hits the road which helps it stick better.

“They do use liquid chloride and there is a difference.  It is quicker...basically what it does is it has a lower melting point, and so it melts the ice, or keeps the ice from forming, quicker than the salt products do,” said Doug Tomasoski. 

The Iron County Road Commission has considered using alternatives to salt such as the chloride system.  However, at this point they say it simply isn't cost effective for them, and so they're sticking to good old fashioned salt to keep their roads safe.

Some counties even use beet juice, which acts like the brine, having a lower freezing point than straight water and salt.  So why are so many counties switching things up?  Because sometimes if temperatures are too cold, and we all know how cold it can be in the U.P., the water and salt mixture just doesn't cut it.

“That's the other positive with the liquid chloride or the liquid products is that typically they have a lower melting point than the straight salt does.  And you have to have moisture to get the salt going, so if it's too cold and there isn't moisture there to get it going, it really is ineffective,” Tomasoski says. 

It is the individual county road commissions that make the decision how to treat their roads in the winter months.

Dickinson County is also sticking with a water, sand, and salt mixture this winter.