Garlic salted Iowa roads

City workers in Ankeny, Iowa are sprinkling garlic salt on roads to help melt the ice. A local spice producer donated 18,000 pounds of the special seasoning. From the Associated Press:

(Public Works administrator Al) Olson says the city mixed the garlic salt with regular road salt and it works fine. He says some road workers say it makes them hungry, but Olson doesn't recommend it to spice up lunch or dinner.

"Iowa town' roads well seasoned" (Thanks, Carlo Longino!)

[#1 posted by neptunefrost , December 18, 2008 8:20 AM]

Oh, man! How are all the vampires going to get to work?

[#2 posted by ChunkyMonkeyBrain , December 18, 2008 8:36 AM]

in Kansas City, MO they use beet juice on the roads - apparently it stabilizes the salt for longer periods so if it snows a few days later, it will still melt on contact.

[#3 posted by Chris Schmidt , December 18, 2008 8:46 AM]

I live there! Last year the town didn't budget enough money for salt and we ran out early. So far this year they have been hesitant to send out the trucks (leading to some dangerous conditions). Our thanks to whoever sneezed into the salt mixer over at Tones last week!

Also, it doesn't seem to smell by the time it gets diluted into the rock salt and put down, but I do wonder what a few layers of this stuff will do once it warms up.

[#4 posted by nicheplayer , December 18, 2008 9:28 AM]

WWTCD?

(What Would Tom Colicchio Do?)

[#5 posted by phunktion , December 18, 2008 9:29 AM]

Probably makes the street pizza taste extra nice..

[#6 posted by David Pescovitz , December 18, 2008 9:53 AM]

ChunkyMonkeyBrain @, Thank you for the reminder on the beet juice. Updated my post! I'm glad I don't live there. I hate beets.

[#7 posted by airship , December 18, 2008 10:09 AM]

Iowa rocks.

[#8 posted by jimbuck , December 18, 2008 11:18 AM]

Iowa - where a stepstool gives you a view

[#9 posted by SomeGuy , December 18, 2008 11:33 AM]

While reading this story I suddenly got a mental image of 2 trucks hurtling toward each other. One is a tanker labeled "Melted Butter" and the other a semi marked "Escargot".

Where's Gary Larson when you need him....

[#10 posted by Bonnie , December 18, 2008 3:33 PM]

Grabbing crusty bread and olive oil now....

[#11 posted by Takuan , December 18, 2008 4:09 PM]

@1, there's a Stephen King in here somewhere.

[#12 posted by Anne K. , December 18, 2008 4:31 PM]

Oh, Ankeny.

Also, I want to go lick their streets. I

[#13 posted by monitorhead , December 18, 2008 5:48 PM]

a step-stool view? must be thinking of Kansas. Iowa is quite hilly. WELL, that is.. If you end up lost off the interstate it is.

[#14 posted by karengeier , December 18, 2008 6:51 PM]

i hope this starts a trend. we need to move toward 'waste not, want not." I'm not a super tree-hugger, so i will put it in awesome business parlance: low-hanging fruit. if only they could find some surplus chianti bottles and work that into the equation.

[#15 posted by Matthew Sanborn Smith , December 18, 2008 8:06 PM]

I just want everyone to know that I saw this coming

[#16 posted by JeremySeth , December 19, 2008 6:28 AM]

Holy crap Matthew, you're a regular oreganostradamus!