Community Corner

Town Highway Super: We're Ready for Storm, Despite Salt Shortage

Scott King's crews will use salt-sand mixture to plow nearly 300 miles of road on Wednesday.

Despite a salt shortage, Superintendent Scott King said his crew is ready for the snow storm that forecasters said could bring 14 to 18 inches to the South Fork.

"The way it's looking the storm is going to hit between 12 and 1 tonight," King said at the highway barn on Tuesday afternoon, while drivers and maintenance workers were making the last preparations on trucks and plows.

While King has 60 people and about 50 units lined up ready to clear roads, what he wishes he had more of was salt for the 300 miles of road in his jurisdiction. To replenish what he used for the blizzard, he ordered 200 tons of salt on Dec. 27 and 800 tons on Jan. 3 from Atlantic Salt in New Jersey, which holds the state contract. "It's the 11th, and I'm still waiting for the 800 tons," he said.

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He's spoken to superintendents from surrounding municipalities, and he said there is a salt shortage up and down the east coast because of the post-Christmas blizzard. His storage barn is at only one-third of its salt capacity.

Instead, he ordered 160 yards of sand to mix with the salt. "We like to use just straight salt. It works much better," he said. The sand-salt mixture takes longer to get the roads down to bare pavement, he said. 

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"From what I understand, what I saw on the news, Mr. Bloomberg in the city is getting most of the salt delivered to him," King said. He said he hopes a salt replenishment comes soon. "When I'm doing with this storm, I'm not going to have any, probably almost none," he said.

King said his crews will not be out on Tuesday night pre-salting the roads. "We think we have enough residual salt on the roads, plus the fact that we don't have enough salt for this storm or we're worried about what we have, I can't pre-salt," he said. "That's the downfall of not having the adequate salt delivered. It's been ordered, it's just hasn't arrived."

Highway department workers were going home to rest up for an early morning and long day ahead. "By 4 a.m., we'll be out and deployed, and if everyone could stay off the streets -- if you need something, get it now."

King said that while it's not only dangerous to drive during a snow storm, cars on the road compact the snow. "As much time as you can give us would be great. Anytime anyone can stay home, it helps out. We can get it done that much faster."

Two plow truck drivers will be stationed at the and the for the duration of the storm in case ambulances or fire officials have difficulty getting to a house in an emergency. The person in East Hampton will also be responsible for the and fire districts.

The town has hired over 30 CDL drivers to help out with the snow removal, a necessity since King's department workforce is down 30 percent from vacancies that have not been filled because of town cuts. It's up 10 percent over last winter. Contractors, some of whom have their own trucks and some who drive town trucks, are paid $20 an hour.

Since 2011 is only two weeks old, King isn't worried yet about his budget. He said the weather can be so different hamlet to hamlet that it's difficult to say how much this storm will cost him. "Montauk could have no snow or two inches -- we could have six here or it could go the other way around."

Overall, King said, "We're ready for this storm."


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