Lake George will be looking at a new invader: Salt



  1. steve says:

    Just put up more parking meters!

  2. Snapdragon says:

    Lawn fertilizer runoff, silt from construction projects, defective sewage systems, road salt entering via feeder streams, invasive species, perroleum products from boars and highway asphalt runoff. The list continues to grow. Solution? Return the entire Lake George watershed to “forever wild”. Demolish all structures and close all roads, including I-87. But we all know that will never happen. Way too much money and political influence to overcome.

  3. Old Forge Man says:

    Time for the area highway departments to switch to a sand based road application, and more away from salt. Highway departments in Ontario have used a sand based ice treatment for decades. There is one big advantage in addition to the reduction is salt pollution to the lake, sand costs one fifth the cost of salt. Time to switch.

  4. Around Me Cow says:

    Time to start inspecting those state trucks to see if they are putting too much salt on the road. The DEC could set up roadblocks around Lake George in the winter, and force all the state DOT plow truck to show they are putting an acceptable amount of salt on the roads.

  5. granny says:

    Why bother? Let’s just trash all of our clean water resources. (all sarcasm intended) Check this out:

    Along with the “fate of the lake” Andrew needs to focus on the “fate of the State.” How about focusing on how to protect all of NYS’s water quality for future generations.

  6. hawkny says:

    Ban margaretias on Lake George.

  7. timmay says:

    Around me cow…I can’t even begin to explain how utterly ridiculous your comment is. The trucks are calibrated.

  8. Keep invasive spieces OUT of the Adirondaks says:
  9. Hadley Mom says:

    Timmay you say the trucks are calibrated but I have been behind trucks that just seem to dump piles. You can see the piles on the streets! They need to use alternative methods besides just a ton of salt. If other cities/countries can then why can’t we? Is it because of the overtime the drivers get to constantly go out and salt? Is it because of the construction jobs that are created to constantly do road work?

  10. Tommy says:

    When we stop using salt, and the first down-stater that slides off the northway into a ditch and not discovered until spring, will be the last time we won’t use salt.

    NYSDOT will bend over and grab the cankles to placate them though…

    Yes, let’s switch to sand, that way the runoff will completely fill in Lake George.

  11. timmay says:

    Hadley Mom, Take off the tin foil. Its not a grand conspiracy by the DOT drivers.Nor is there any relation to those drivers (state workers) and the CONTRACTORS who actually bid for a contract to fix a road. Or maybe I was absent on the day they got everyone together and explained this scheme in detail. The belts on the truck are calibrated to release a certain amount of pounds per lane mile, with a spinner/spreader to scatter the salt so it doesn’t dump in a pile. Perhaps the spinner was malfunctioning, perhaps the driver had it turned down too low. Or maybe, just maybe, you are right and the driver is dumping a pile of salt (which, mind you, will melt the snow even faster and not create overtime) just to fatten his mind boggling 18,000 pension at age 65. Or maybe you were following too close and that was his way of saying Back off Lady, your lights are blinding my only visual outlet. Maybe the next time you see this, you could tell the driver that he is dumping piles and maybe he will fix it. But it just seems easier to get on a forum and throw around false ideas all in the name of thrashing the worker. Do you work for the Governor? Perhaps this holiday season when you are driving to grandmas house over the river and through the woods, you will get on this same forum and say THANK YOU to those workers being out there in a storm on the holiday, clearing the roads for you and yours, while you spend quality time with your family. I highly doubt it though.

  12. PEFer says:

    DOT uses WAY too much salt in my opinion. The lake is flanked by three roads that they maintain. The obvious solution to this problem it to use less salt on the roads. I would be interested to know how the application rates the DOT uses compare to adjacent states.

  13. Jim says:

    Want about a combination of sand and salt?

  14. slypond says:

    Wait just a bit and we will have the Lake George Safe Act. All bathers will be limited to peeing in the lake 7 times.

  15. optivity says:

    One of my retirement dreams is to have a boat on Lake George.
    Gas or Diesel?

  16. Old Forge Man says:

    Most rural highway department use a 9 to 1 mix of sand to salt. Time for the DOT to use the same formula. More sand, less pollution, less cost to the taxpayers. Who cares if a downstater is inconvenienced?

  17. timmay says:

    Its not about inconvenience, its about the drivers who sue the state after the accident. Ask Sen Libous about his son being awarded millions in an auto accident from the state. And that was on a wet road, meaning rain, not snow. Silly rabbits dont you know the state colors of blue and yellow mixed together makes GREEN.$$

  18. NaCl baby! says:

    Sand isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. First of all, it doesn’t melt. So you have to go back and clean it off the roads and out of drainage structures and ditches. That sort of thing isn’t exactly cheap, and then you get the global warmists all fired up over the extra carbon emissions. Then, a lot of it goes into waterbodies. In trout streams, that’s bad news. It cloggs up spawning redds and negatively impacts natural recruitment.

    Also, sand works somewhat well when it’s new and angular. But run it over a few times, and it gets rounded, so you wind up with a bunch of little ball bearings on the road. Sweet.

    Run it over a few more times, and it gets smaller and smaller, and you have a potential breathing hazard. At least salt dissolves. Silica particles in your lungs don’t.

    Sand also doesn’t melt ice, so you ultimately just wind up with dirty ice.

    Sand is best for low traffic roads maintained by departments without a lot of highway miles to clean up after winter, and when it’s too cold for salt to work. Poor choice for high volume roads.

    There is no single traction enhancer/ice melter that doesn’t have negative environmental consequences, except this little-known one we in upstate NY like to call “Summer”.

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