HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works Grant
City of Edina • 4801 W. 50th St. • Edina, MN 55424
Contact: Brady Skoglund, Communications Intern
Phone 952-833-9522 • www.EdinaMN.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Public Works Department Awarded Grant
Edina, Minn., May 15, 2013 – The City of Edina’s Public Works Department has been awarded a $25,000
grant by the Nine Mile Creek Watershed Creek District to purchase an automated brine system and two
additional tanks to work with its current brinemaker.
Brine is used to wet the salt used by plow trucks to help break down the salt and reduce waste. It also helps
the salt stick to the roadways. In the case of a snow event, City vehicles disperse salt on the roadways to help
prevent weather-related accidents. The City’s current brinemaker is not sufficient to provide enough brine for
the City’s plow trucks and creates delays in the filling process. Currently, the City has one 500-gallon
brinemaker and each of the 23 trucks has a 300-gallon capacity for brine. Because of this, only one truck can
be filled at a time. Some plows, then, are unable to wait for and use the brine.
The City’s 23 plow trucks currently have an Automatic Vehicle Locating (AVL) system installed in order to
record the amounts of salt used and where it is applied. The new brine system will complement the AVL
system by allowing the City to tailor the use of chemicals to reduce salt application while maintaining safe
roads.
Public Works Director Brian Olson says that the primary benefit is “the minimization of salt use in the
environment and decreasing the amount of salt the City has to use in keeping our roads dry.”
The cost of a new brine system is about $45,336.80, but the grant of $25,000 will offset a good chunk of the
cost. The remaining $20,336.80 of the cost is projected to be saved with the use of the new system, which
will then be covered by the Public Works Department’s salt budget.
For more information, visit www.EdinaMN.gov or contact the Public Works Department at 952-826-0376.
-30-