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L'ANSE -- Maintaining U.P. roads in the winter isn't easy, but MDOT officials in L’Anse say a simple solution they came up with several years ago has made big improvements.

They tend to use hundreds of pounds of salt per mile each winter.  A few years ago, they did some experimentation and found a way to use it more effectively...by just adding water.

Brine has been more commonly used to preserve various foods, but when it's loaded into MDOT trucks, its only purpose is to make the roads safer.

At approximately a 23 percent concentration, the water and salt solution can be used in temperatures as cold as six below without freezing.  The trucks spray the brine on dry salt just before it hits the ground which helps the salt stick to the road and speeds up deicing.

"I think people are noticing that," said transportation maintenance worker Gary Gallup.  "We can't do much until the storm comes, but when we're putting this brine out, we're getting the roads back to safer driving, quicker."

The equipment needed to make brine cost about $30,000 initially, but it paid for itself in the first year with salt and sand savings.  In the time since, it's allowed them to spend extra money on truck upgrades and other improvements.

"Keeping traffic moving at 50-55 mph is one of our goals during an event," says supervisor John Dault.  "That’s pretty good if we can have minimal interruption.  When the storm or event is over, the roads are bare, and traffic is back to normal."

Despite their success, Dault says L’Anse is one of the only areas in the state using brine.  He thinks there's some resistance because of the initial cost but says they couldn't afford not to use it.