Sangamon Co. (ECWd) –
Matt Mau is currently a Village of Chatham Trustee and currently asking the voters for their support for his run for Mayor.
In light of all the problems we have exposed with the Village of Chatham, we felt it necessary to address the comments from this person wanting to lead the community as Mayor.
During the December 27th, 2016, regular meeting a citizen expressed their concern regarding snow plows being used on ice. The concern was about equipment wear, not about the ice on the roads. Mau once again took it upon himself to grandstand from his board seat and educate everyone on when salt no longer works on the roads.
His comments are in line with what we see from so many elected officials wanting your vote. They talk to be heard and have no clue what they are talking about. Mau took it upon himself to interrupt the citizen and then provide false information to the public. Mau stated that salt does not work under 20 degrees, referring to salt on ice.
Having spent the majority of my military career in Alaska, I knew his comments were false. Many factors come into play when it comes to melting ice with salt. Road temps can increase as much as 10 degrees over the air temp simply from the sun shining on it. Those conditions help salt work much better during the day. Although salt does lose its efficiency as it gets colder, it does work at 20 degrees, contrary to Mau’s statement, which was irrelevant to the citizen’s comments pertaining to the snow plow on ice.
Mayoral candidate Mau is yet another example of why asking “Says Who and With What Proof”, is so important in today’s political environment. Those wanting votes from people had better get prepared to be called out each time they mislead the public they serve.
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7 Comments
homer
Posted at 10:30h, 30 Decembermy thirty 38 years of association with the illinois state highway is enough for me to know about salt I will not comment any more for you will just twist it any way
Kirk Allen
Posted at 10:35h, 30 DecemberHomer, I have not twisted anything. Mau said salt DOES NOT work below 20 degrees. That is not true. It does and your own post of copying information found online proves that. It is less effective the colder it gets but it DOES WORK at 20 degrees.
Kirk Allen
Posted at 10:43h, 30 DecemberThis link is probably one of the better explanations on the subject and it proves Mau’s statement to be false. Do you dispute what is written on this link?
http://www.usroads.com/journals/p/rmj/9712/rm971202.htm
homer
Posted at 07:20h, 30 DecemberSalt is effective to temperatures of 20 degrees at which it takes 20 minutes to begin melting the snow. Below 10 degrees its useless by itself. They usually mix it with calcium chloride and this enables to use it to temperatures well below zero. It can be effective at temps of -40 to -50 degrees. In almost all canada salt isnt even used Probably the same for alaska Matt Mau is closer to the truth than you are Mr allen
Kirk Allen
Posted at 08:41h, 30 DecemberIf you compare the Alaska temperatures in Anchorage, which is where I was at, it is not much different than right here in Illinois. Closer to the truth? It is either true or not and your own post confirms his statement is different that what you posted, which appears to be a cut and paste from one of many sites that have information on the matter.
You make no mention of day time or night, wind, etc, which all have an impact on the effectiveness.
The point is, Mau ran his mouth to sound important and talked about something that had NOTHING to do with the matter raised by the citizen.
homer
Posted at 09:51h, 30 DecemberThere are lots of reasons why it’s a bad idea to spray salt on local roadways, state and city officials say. Sodium chloride (standard rock salt) corrodes the metal on cars and trucks. It kills roadside vegetation. It pollutes salmon streams. It attracts salt-deprived moose onto highways.
And it doesn’t really work that great either — at least not in Alaska. Sodium chloride melts ice effectively when temperatures are in the 20s by lowering the freezing point of water. But when the thermometer drops into the low teens, all bets are off.
Below 15 degrees, as winter days in Anchorage often are, meltwater mixed with rock salt begins to refreeze into a compound that road crews here call “chemical ice,” which enamels itself to asphalt.
“It’s even more difficult to get off the road than regular ice,” says Jack Fullerton, chief of maintenance and operations for the central region of the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. “So we don’t use salt products to de-ice the roads. They aren’t effective.”
However, the state uses sodium chloride to de-ice its sand, which it then sprays on the highways and major arterials it is responsible for in town.
Kirk Allen
Posted at 10:18h, 30 DecemberThis is not a debate of the value of using salt or not, where, and when to use it, or what works better.
This is a about a guy wanting people to vote for him and he runs his mouth to sound important and talked about things that had NOTHING to do with the subject being discussed.
If your going to cut and past I suggest you give credit to the link your copying. Also note, Alaska is massive and what works in one part of the state will not work in another becuase of the drastic differance in the climate.