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Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Worker accidentally uses crushed glass snow removal
product on downtown streets
By Cindy Barks
The Daily Courier
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
PRESCOTT - The sparkling appearance alongside a number of city streets this week is the aftermath of snow-removal efforts that took place during the Monday/Tuesday snowstorm, says a city official.
Prescott Field Operations Manager Chad McDowell reported Wednesday that the glass-like appearance on the shoulders and gutters of about 10 city streets stems from a move by the city to try a new material to treat icy and snowy streets.
McDowell said the city recently switched to Ice Slicer, a product that combines sand and salt to clear icy streets.
This year, the city began experimenting to produce its own variation of the product, McDowell said, incorporating a portion of cinders, the material that the city applied to icy streets for years.
And in a pilot program, the city also began producing another variation that incorporated pulverized glass from the recycled bottles that it collects at its transfer station.
"We were trying it with some crushed glass," McDowell said. "But we were only supposed to use that around here (at the transfer station off Sundog Ranch Road)."
In the middle of Monday night, however, McDowell said a worker accidentally filled some of the snow-removal trucks with the material that contained crushed glass.
"Some of that material did get out there," McDowell said, estimating that the glass combination ended up on about 10 streets in Prescott. "It happened because we were operating 24 hours a day, and someone happened to load up from the wrong piles."
Noting that the glass product worked well because of the reflection from the sun, McDowell allowed that "it's hard to sell people on the idea."
Therefore, he said his crews would be working in coming days to sweep the glass material from the streets, and likely would not use the material in future storms.
Meanwhile, McDowell said the city would continue to use a material that combines sand and salt, which he said is safer and more effective than pure cinders.
City Manager Steve Norwood also referred to the new material during Tuesday's City Council meeting, pointing out that the city regularly gets complaints about the impacts from cinders.
"We have gotten a lot of claims (for compensation) from cinders," Norwood told the council.
McDowell said drivers often complain that large pieces of the cinder material leave dents in their vehicles and breaks windshields.
In addition, McDowell said, cinders pose a hazard for bicyclists and motorcyclists.
"It costs us about $40,000 to clean up (the cinders) from a big storm," McDowell said.
Even so, he said the city would continue to use a small portion of cinders in its snow-removal material, because that is what Prescott drivers have become accustomed to.
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