Harris County Precinct 3 is stepping up its game this winter, employing a new de-icing method for roads that promises better efficiency and a lighter hit on wallets. The brine solution, used to break up slick ice on the pavement, is being hailed as the first of its kind in the area. "During the last freeze season, we realized that with the size of our new precinct that we needed to adapt to be able to cover our over 300 bridges and 6,700 lane miles of roadway to keep them open and safe during winter conditions," Road and Bridge Director Jennifer Almonte said in a Houston Chronicle report.
Prior to this initiative, Harris County Precinct 3 relied on chat rock for icy conditions, but this method was deemed insufficient for the newly expanded precinct, and, the bigger coverage area demanded a more effective solution. With Harris County Precinct 3 Road and Bridge crews innovating in-house to devise their own brine spraying system, from the tank design to the pumps, there’s a sense of homegrown innovation at work. "I pretty much turned my welding shop loose with the task of just creating something very simple, very inexpensive from tank design to spray bars to pumps they did it all their self and I think they created something that's going to work great for us," Duke Pulpan I, building maintenance superintendent, said according to the Houston Chronicle.
Brine de-icing scores additional points for being gentler on the environment, eschewing the mess and the potential damage associated with chat rock, and all this with the added reassurance of less strain on tax payer dollars. Almonte elaborated that the tanks are capacious enough to treat ample stretches without requiring refills, a boon for maintaining the flow of vital services. “When you see those colder temperatures approaching in the forecast, be assured and know that Precinct 3 is out and ready to keep your roads and bridges, safe for emergency response vehicles but more importantly, for the traveling public,” Commissioner Tom Ramsey affirmed in a statement shared by MyNeighborhoodNews.
