D1’s new Sheep Creek shed builds capacity
and helps D2 test brine

Positioned just north of the Benewah and Latah county lines, the freshly constructed Sheep Creek facility builds capacity for District 1 and allows experimentation with roadway applications in District 2.

As part of the facilities management meeting last week, a group of 40 ITD employees toured the shed, which was still glossy from its last coat of paint. It holds three 10,000-gallon tanks, two of which are for brine and another for Boost, a product that can increase the effectiveness of brine at lower temperatures.

The main feature, though, is the bright yellow brine machine, which can produce 800 gallons of brine in about 20 minutes. D1 uses brine because it is more cost effective and they are able to produce it in-house, so they don't have to rely on a company for the product. The district spends roughly $400,000-$500,000 annually on salt brine compared to $1M to $1.5M if they were to use magnesium chloride.

Although it doesn’t compare to the machine at the 40 Acres facility in Coeur d’Alene that generates 94 gallons per minute, this one doesn’t require the same level of oversight. All an operator has to do is fill up the truck, dump some salt in the machine and make the rounds before coming back to a fresh batch of brine.

This small facility helps D1 tackle a significant problem for winter operations: transporting the district’s primary anti-icing product from CDA to remote sheds.

Currently a temporary employee hauls brine all over the district, never being able to deliver more than two loads in a day given the region’s size. That’s an issue, especially when the same storm slams into the entire district, and every station needs a refill all at once.

Also, it takes about 15 cents per gallon to make brine (based on labor and materials costs) and another 6.5 cents per gallon to deliver it this way in District 1.

With the transportation issue eliminated for the Sheep Creek area, D1 is better able to use road applications. For example, if operators in a section are low on brine while waiting for the next delivery, they are forced to conserve their anti-icing resources, possibly increasing the amount of deicing materials (like solid salt) they have to apply later.

However, if operators are able to self-sustain their supplies, they no longer have to reduce the anti-icing materials they apply first, and it eliminates the need to apply more deicing materials later. 

D1 has a plan to build more of these small brine facilities in the future, but right now it’s letting recently-promoted Moscow/Potlatch Maintenance Foreman Ty Winther test out brine on the stretch of US-95 between Sheep Creek and Potlatch.

He said this will be a valuable experiment for a district that stocks magnesium chloride for weather events.

“This experiment will give us direct insight to this new-to-us product to help determine if and when we will make a full switch to brine,” Winther said. “So far we have seen bonuses to both products and will continue the trial.”

Published 02-01-19