Salt, sand are the most efficient anti-skid agents for Chisinau

Road-workers in Chisinau state that the best anti-skid agents for the winter period are composed of 10% salt and 90% sand, as they do not pollute the rain waters that would eventually pollute rivers at large. The head of the General Department for Public Transport and Communications, Veaceslav Tarna, believes inadequate the request of Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca to examine the possibility to use anti-skid materials with a chemical composition. “Using chemical products as anti-skid materials is dangerous from an ecological point of view, as rain waters are not filtered by the wastewater treatment facilities” stated Veaceslav Tarna. The mayor manifested discontent towards the fact that the cities in western states have dry roads and pavements, compared to ice-covered grounds in Chisinau. According to Veaceslav Tarna, in order to solve the issue, the municipality needs to supply and increase the number of cars specialised in clearing the ice-covered roads from 30 to 980 cars. “The efficient clearing of crusted grounds, pavements and streets, as well as scattering traditional anti-skid materials on them is the best solution for the city, taking into consideration the current financial situation”, underlined Tarna. Salt and sand are used largely in more developed countries in Europe such as Austria, Germany, and Italy. Other anti-skid materials, in liquid form require substantial investments for their production, storage and usage. However, Tarna says that any anti-skid material is inefficient at temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius, if the emergency clearance of ice-covered roads is not done in time. Currently, the DGTCC has approximately 12 thousand cubic meters of anti-skid material in “Exdrupo” stores and 512 tonnes of salt. The required amount to supply the city in wintertime is of approximately 20 thousand cubic metres.