Some DeKalb streets are starting to resemble skating rinks.

DeKalb is facing a major salt shortage, which comes after ice-filled waterways have prevented barges from delivering salt, said Rick Monas, DeKalb Public Works director.

“There has been 27 individual snow events from Dec. 1, 2007, to the current date,” Monas said. “This is very unusual.”

DeKalb was informed it will not receive any more shipments of salt this season from its distributor. DeKalb purchases its annual salt supply from the State of Illinois Purchasing Contract Program, according to a news release from Monas.
For this season, the city had a contract for 2,700 tons of salt.

“We exhausted that contract,” Monas said.

Monas believes DeKalb has gone through 5,400 tons of salt since Dec. 1.

Calcium chloride has been implemented with the minimal amount of salt left to help speed up the melting of ice on roadways.

DeKalb will continue to salt major roadways such as Illinois routes 23 and 38 and Annie Glidden Road, and only residential intersections will be salted.

Illinois Department Of Transportation (IDOT) is not running out of salt and will not cut back on salting roadways, said spokesman Mike Claffey. “IDOT plans for 130 percent of what it would need in a normal winter,” Claffey said.

IDOT is responsible for state routes and interstates such as Interstate 88, Illinois routes 64, 23, 30, 72 and 38, Claffey said.

While Claffey said that the routes must stay open, Monas urges safety.

“The main thing here is just please slow down,” Monas said. “If you can avoid parking on the streets during a snow event, it helps us clear the roads that much faster.”

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