The Colorado Department of Transportation wants de-icer suppliers to come up with a less corrosive product. The trucking industry has become increasingly concerned about the corrosive properties of the miracle de-icer magnesium chloride, which made its debut in the early 1990s. The liquid solution of magnesium and chloride, when sprayed on roads before a storm, prevents snow from sticking and ice from forming.

The Colorado Motor Truck Assn. and the Technology and Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Associations have been vocal on this issue. Members report the chemical eats into aluminum and stainless steel, pitting and scarring surfaces. More worrisome is that wiring systems exposed to mag chloride have been deteriorating at an alarming rate. Even more alarming is the corrosion damage fleets have seen in structural elements and brakes.
It looks like trucking's complaints in Colorado are finally being heard. According to The Denver Post, state officials told suppliers of mag chloride to deliver a product for this season's snow removal that is no more corrosive on aluminum and stainless steel than sodium chloride, and 70 percent less corrosive than sodium chloride on lesser grades of steel. (Sodium chloride is the more common salt that is used in solid form as a road de-icer.)

For more on this issue, read the cover story "Killer Chemicals" in the September issue of Heavy Duty Trucking.