Amherst DPW last fall
Like frost on the pumpkins or that eye popping kaleidoscopic color change in our tree canopy, another sure sign of winter's approach is the pile of sand that takes up a parking space at the Amherst DPW every fall and winter.
But like telephone booths, the sight may soon be a thing of the past.
DPW this morning
Yesterday the Water Supply Protection Committee voted to support the elimination of sand from the DPW arsenal used to combat Mother Nature. Last winter the town used between 4,000 and 5,000 TONS of sand mixed in with between 1,000 and 1,500 tons of salt.
The town will continue to use salt, but will do so mixed in a liquid goo of magnesium chloride which can be applied to the roads even before the first snowflakes fall. Massachusetts Department Of Transportation switched over to this formula years ago.
As an immediate neighbor to the DPW I'm going to miss all the "sand crabs" -- those cars and trucks that flock to the pile in the hours leading up to a winter storm.
2 comments:
Kiss your brake lines goodby.
That's what no one says about this stuff, it corrodes the s*** out of brake (and gas) lines and those get really expensive to have to keep replacing every couple of years -- and the consequences of not are worse....
So after I pay someone to shovel the walk in front of my house -- because the Town eliminated the free sidewalk plow years ago -- I now have to BUY sand to put on it so my one neighbor who uses the walk won't slip. Another reason to move to Hadley.
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