New Brunswick has been managing its use of salt on provincial highways for many years for both fiscal and environmental reasons.
The amount of highway salt used in deicing roads is largely dependent upon the mass of snow or ice on the road surface and the pavement temperature. Accurate knowledge of pavement surface temperature assists in determining suitable salt application rates and reduces salt waste.
Since 1996, the New Brunswick, Department of Transportation has been equipping highway supervisor trucks with pavement temperature sensors to assist them in selecting suitable salt application rates. Sensors are now installed in all highway supervisor vehicles providing immediate access to pavement and local air temperature information.