Salt Shortage Could Cause Problems This Winter

Winter will be here before you know it and that means salt trucks will be working over-time to help prevent slippery road conditions.

There's only one small problem, salt suppliers say not only are they finding it difficult to get the same amount of salt they got last year, but also, the prices have nearly tripled.

Experts say that's because two of the four salt mines in the Midwest region had production issues, which included a strike and a leak.  Some of the salt in their barns this year came from Africa.

Cliff Walkington, general manager of Hammond Farms said, "we haven't seen pricing this high to start a season since we've been involved, which has been eight or nine years now, but there have been shortages.  It does go up and down."

The city has more salt scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks.  Contractors like Sneller Snow Systems are the ones who will be impacted.

This likely means that residents will need to be a lot more careful this winter.  Here's more from WILX-TV 10.