Spring is in the air, which means it’s time to make sure that dust is not! Season-long dust control programs start now, but to ensure yours is effective while delivering minimum impact on both the environment and community health, it’s essential you do dust control right. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you going:
Step 1: Blading & Shaping
Blading is best done while moisture levels are high, which is why Spring is the perfect time! This will help to smooth out those winter ruts, washboards and potholes and mix in loose aggregate. This is also the time to “shape” the road for optimum drainage, which entails forming a 4% or greater crown.
Step 2: Choosing the Right Product
Now that the road is prepped, it’s time to pick out the product that best suits your needs. OxyChem Calcium Chloride products for dust suppression come in liquid, flake and mini-pellet forms. They deliver proven performance in controlling dust helping to reduce overall road maintenance costs, while positively impacting health and the environment.
Lower costs - because calcium chloride naturally absorbs moisture, it helps to increase and maintain the moisture content in the road surface making it remain stable and dust-free for long periods of time. This results in less blading and less applications, meaning less product, resources and maintenance costs for road managers.
Lower impact - when properly applied to good quality gravel, CaCl2 products remain bound to road surfaces for extended periods of time. This improves air quality by reducing airborne dust, and lessens the migration of product into waterways and roadside soils. What little does end up in water or near roadside vegetation is far less harmful than the airborne dust and waterborne sediments from roads left untreated or those treated with products high in salt content (sodium chloride).
Step 3: Applying Properly
As we mentioned above, to ensure you (and the environment) are able to take advantage of all the dust controlling benefits CaCl2 has to offer, proper application is a must. You can find recommended aggregate characteristics, application rates, material safety sheets and more on the OxyChem Calcium Chloride website or you can simply call 888-293-2336 or use the online contact form to get more information and answers to your questions. Then, you can take the first step toward an effective, dust control program.
Happy Spring!