Snow and Ice? Buffalo Grove Takes it With [Many] Grains of Salt

Have you ever wondered how much road salt it takes to keep Buffalo Grove’s streets safe?

Well, for starters, it’s measured in tons. Tons of tons.

From Dec. 31 through last week’s snow and freezing temperatures, Buffalo Grove spread 676 tons of salt, the village’s Public Works Director Michael Reynolds told Patch.

That salt was used to cover — and recover — nearly 121 miles of village streets, a job that took 38 employees a total of 1,444 hours to complete, Reynolds said. 

As is typical during heavy snows, some mailboxes fell casualty to the plows. Reynolds said 28 mailboxes were reported damaged. But, he added, few were struck directly by the plows.

“The vast majority of these incidents were caused by the window of snow coming off the plow as staff was curbing the streets,” he told Patch.

That week’s salt use accounted for one-third of the salt the village has used so far this season, he said. But there’s plenty more where that came from, as it represented only 12.5 percent of the salt the village has budgeted this winter.