The High Cost of a White Christmas
Dreams may not cost a thing, but de-icing roads costs billions of dollars each year
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When you dream of a “White Christmas,” do you ever consider the cost? Not just the cost of gifts under the tree, but the cost of keeping our streets safe and clear during the winter season. The holiday season includes a lot of traditions, but this isn’t usually one of them. Rock salt is a staple in the Northern United States for deicing roads. But as we’ll see, the implications of this practice extend far beyond just keeping streets ice-free.
Across the Northern United States, the sight of salt trucks signifies safety and a semblance of normalcy amid winter snowstorms. Have you ever considered what would happen if we just cleared snow the old-fashioned way? What’s the big rush, right? Well, in cities like Chicago or Philadelphia, a significant storm can grind public transportation to a halt and make parking a nightmare. This disruption imposes a hefty economic burden. It’s why state and local agencies pour more than $4 billion annually into snow and ice control operations.
Those billions account for the direct costs of snow and ice removal—the labor, the equipment, and of course, the tons of rock salt. But this figure doesn’t include the external cost that salt inflicts on our roadways and environment. Our policy on snow removal, as it turns out, is costing us much more than we realize.
The Economic Concept of Externalities
To understand the full impact of rock salt, we need to talk about externalities. An externality occurs when a product or activity affects someone who wasn’t part of the transaction—and these effects can be either good or bad. In the case of rock salt, we’re primarily looking at negative externalities.
Picture a classic snow day—kids making snowmen, schools closed. But economically, it’s a different story. According to a 2014 study by IHS Global Insight, a single snow day in the Northern US costs anywhere from $70 million to $700 million in lost wages, retail sales, and tax revenues. So, to keep daily life and commerce flowing, we use road salt. But this leads to unintended, costly consequences.
While road salt helps keep roads clear, the damage it causes to vehicles, infrastructure, and the environment may surprise you. We’re talking about an annual cost of around $5 billion in corrosion-related damages in the U.S., a bit more than the $4.8 billion spent last year on snow removal. In the simplest terms, every $1 allocated toward removing snow in the United States also results in another $1 in road damage that will eventually need to be paid.
Environmental Implications
Let’s not forget the environmental impact. Research shows that the environmental damage associated with road salt usage is alarmingly high. After its job on the roads is done, the salt washes into our soil and water systems, putting our freshwater supplies at risk. The Flint Water Crisis, partly due to road salt contamination, is a chilling reminder of these dangers. Here’s a snippet from an interview with Scientific American on how the city’s water got so toxic:
Instead, because the corrosion inhibitor wasn’t there, plus the Flint River had higher chloride—eight times higher chloride. Chloride is corrosive—it’s road salt. The combination of not following the law, plus more corrosive water, triggered everything.
This isn’t a localized problem; it’s a global concern affecting the U.S. and countries around the world. It affects everything from agriculture to our health. Excessive salt in irrigation water can lead to crop failure, which then leads to threats to food security. Salt in drinking water has been linked to conditions like preeclampsia. The scale of this issue is staggering.
The rock salt issue is just a small part of a larger global crisis of increasing soil, air, and water salinity. This trend, driven by human activities like road deicing, poses severe risks to our biodiversity, ecosystem health, and even human safety.
Innovative Solutions and Their Challenges
In response to this crisis, some states are trialing eco-friendly alternatives like "smart" snowplow software, beet juice, and even cheese brine. These innovative solutions come with their own set of challenges, especially in terms of effectiveness and cost. Some states, like Rhode Island, have passed legislation to reduce the use of road salt.
Policymakers face a critical dilemma: how to balance the immediate need for road safety with the long-term health of our environment and economy. This issue isn’t just about finding the right deicing method but rethinking our entire approach to winter road maintenance and urban planning. Perhaps we need to think twice before dreaming of a white Christmas or hoping that a winter storm is heavy enough to cancel school.
The US puts approximately 10 times as much salt on its roads as it does in processed food [US Geological Survey via Vox]
Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Utah produced about 94% of the salt in the United States in 2022 [US Geological Survey]
Winter storms caused nearly $6 billion in insured losses in 2022, the second-highest year on record for winter storm insured losses in the last ten years [Insurance Information Institute]
During the winter, samples from 55% of northern streams had chloride levels that exceeded US EPA chronic water-quality criteria, indicating potential toxicity [US Geological Survey]
Every year, road crews dump about 25 million metric tons of salt on roadways [The University of Toledo]
25 million metric tons. 925 metric tons.