The cost of making roads safer after ice and snow storms in Bartholomew County is expected to go up substantially starting next year.
The Bartholomew County commissioners this week rejected the sole bid received for sand required in de-icing of county roads.
Received on Dec. 3, the bid from County Material Inc. was $5.45 per ton for both sand and gravel — up substantially from this year’s cost of $3.10 per ton.
“It didn’t quite double, but close to it,” said county highway engineer Danny Hollander, who said new bids will be sought and opened Jan. 2.
However, motorists can rest assured that the county is not in danger of running out of sand to treat slippery roads this winter, the engineer said.
Under the county’s current contract, the $3.10 per ton price is good through the end of January, Hollander said.
“We’ve got plenty in storage right now, and we will stock up before the end of the year,” said Hollander, who indicated that his department usually applies about 5,000 tons of sand annually.
Hollander said he can only speculate on why one vendor increased its cost by 75 percent.
However, several news reports have indicated that demand in the eastern United States has emerged as a significant reason for price hikes for traditional road de-icing materials.
Salt supplies are already tight on the heels of a harsh winter last year that depleted reserves, leaving many localities in the Northeast and Great Lakes to pay prices that range from about 5 percent higher to almost double, the The Associated Press reported.
Most of the treatment used for rural roads in Bartholomew County is a mixture of salt and sand, Hollander said.
If pure salt were applied in rural areas and allowed to wash into agricultural fields, it would wind up in lakes, streams and rivers before ending up in groundwater supplies, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Another possible reason for higher local prices is the extensive amount of aggregate being used for the $143 million modernization of Interstate 65 from Seymour to Columbus, Hollander said.
The I-65 project is just one part of the state’s Next Level Roads project, a 20-year infrastructure plan projected to cost $4.7 billion in the first five years.
The project is funded by the gas tax Indiana lawmakers passed last year that raised the 18-cent existing gas tax by 10 cents and again by an additional penny last July.
