The city of Bowling Green has been repeatedly hit by snow and ice storms this winter, increasing the use of salt on the roads.

Bowling Green started off the winter with a purchase order of 2,500 tons of salt from the supplier Cargill.

Cargill was the only contractor to put a bid out to Bowling Green when the market opened in the fall.

This year the price of salt increased from $42.81 a ton to $65.17, Bowling Green Public Works Director Brian Craft said.

“The increase was expected and I was actually pleased with the increased price,” Craft said.

About 1,100 tons of salt have already been used, leaving around 1,400 tons for the rest of the winter, Craft said.

“In December and January, the salt was going out the door,” Craft said. “I was hoping we’d have more salt on hand by now.”

To substitute for the lack of salt, the city purchased salt brine, a liquid pretreater for the roads, and brine applying equipment, said Craft.

“Before the snow and ice storms the brine acts as a barrier and gives us a head start,” Craft said.

One ton of salt is equivalent to 1,000 gallons of salt brine, said Craft. This ratio has helped Bowling Green during this salt shortage by allowing them to use more salt brine and less salt so there is still a surplus of salt for the upcoming winter months.

University freshman Ann Briggs does not think the alternative efforts to help keep the roads safe has been helping.

“I’m from Cleveland so I’m used to lots of snow and ice,” she said. “But, even though I’m used to it, the roads in BG were bad [and] they didn’t do a great job plowing.”

In order to conserve, the city has also been mainly salting only major roads and intersections.

Craft said he has noticed that car traffic has helped disperse the salt on the roads beyond the targeted spots.

The city of Perrysburg has also been conserving salt in any way possible.

“I would love to salt everything, but we’re just not able to do so,” Perrysburg Director of Public Services John Eckel said.

Perrysburg received a bid from Morton Salt in the fall for 2,000 tons of salt and they had a 600 ton surplus from the previous year.

To add to the conservation efforts, Perrysburg was able to receive 350 tons of a distressed salt product from Morton Salt which can be mixed in the actual road salt, said Eckel.

“It may not be as good, but it works,” said Eckel.