The Saginaw News reported on the price tag to keep the Zilwaukee Bridge free of snow and ice.
The don't use cheap salt which would result in corrosion of the multi-million dollar bridge. They use a more expensive melting agent - calcium magnesium acetate.
The News reported that the Michigan Department of Transportation used $236,640 worth of the stuff to keep the bridge clear last year:
The Michigan Department of Transportation spent $1,392 a ton to dump 170 tons of calcium magnesium acetate on the 8,000-foot-long bridge on Interstate 75 over the Saginaw River last winter.
Gregg Brunner, manager of the Bay City Transportation Service Center, told the News that MDOT "spends about $800,000 to $1 million a year to maintain the six-lane bridge year round with a four-member crew."
Around 31,000 cars and trucks pass over the bridge daily.
The mile-and-a-half Zilwaukee Bride had an infamous beginning. It was built so freighters could pass under it on the Saginaw River.
The project was plagued with accidents, "spalling", and the discovery of PCBs. It cost the state $117.5 million to build the bridge and it was opened back in 1988.
