Will Norwood be using beet juice on icy streets this year?

Last Friday, Channel 5 reported that Cincinnati officials are thinking about adding beet juice to the city’s road deicer because “the combination of beet juice, salt and calcium chloride drops the freezing temperature of liquid on pavement, and proponents said it also lessens the corrosive effect on cars.”

Tom White, Director of Norwood’s Public Works Department, told us this morning the city has no plans to purchase beet juice as a pre-treatment for icy street conditions. First and foremost, the City of Norwood doesn’t own the kind of equipment Cincinnati has to spread a beet juice concoction or any other liquid pre-treatment. Secondly, Mr. White has never heard of beet juice as a remedy for icy roads but said he would look into it. He seemed to concur that beet juice might pose a risk of staining whatever it spills on and accepted our sincere apology for giggling throughout our brief phone interview. After all, this in no laughing matter...or is it?

12//4/07 UPDATE: The City of Akron isn’t laughing too much about this. Their 11/28/07 news release tells just about everything you’d ever want to know about beet juice as a deicer. They’ve already experimented with it and plan to use it on a larger scale this winter. As for its color and odor, “experience shows the juice comes out more of a brown color and has the slight aroma of brewer’s yeast. Paul Barnett says it may be noticeable to your eyes, but not likely your nose (unless you stick your face in it).”