STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (WXYZ) — People who live on newer neighborhood roads in Sterling Heights won't see salt trucks on their street this winter.
The Public Works department is taking a new approach to try and preserve roads by skipping the salt. This of course raises a lot of safety questions for people who live on those streets.
"This is Castleton Drive. It's been pretty rough. The kids will be long boarding. You'll see 'em trip over the cracks in the street," residents Jeremy Hogan said.
But these days residents I spoke with on Castleton Drive say it's about as smooth as a residential street can get. It's one of two dozen roadways upgraded as part of Sterling Heights' Local Road Concrete Reconstruction and Improvement Program for 2024.
"It was very unleveled. Lot of potholes," resident Grace Zaunger said. "It is a very busy road a lot of the times. You have busses coming through and cars, so you want it to be nice and smooth. So, it was good that it was redone."
The city announced this winter, it won't salt neighborhood roads reconstructed in the last three years to avoid surface scaling or flaking.
In other words, the goal is to preserve the concrete.
I spoke the Public Works Director Mike Moore, who says the request to not salt newer neighborhood roads this winter came from the city's office of engineering.
Castleton Drive Residents like Zauner and Hogan have varying views on the matter.
"It stinks for the short, you know, because you want salt on the road. You obviously don't wanna drive on ice but if it's going to preserve the road, we want that. We have so many potholes in Michigan, especially Sterling Heights," Zauner said.
Hogan is also concerned about safety.
"As it does preserve the roads not salting them, it's also just as unsafe," he said.
Hogan says he pays special attention to road conditions.
"I'm a deliver driver, so I have to drive through these neighborhoods. It's rather dangerous for us, especially when you're passing other traffic, can make the roads real slippery and not everyone's vehicle's an all-wheel-drive vehicle that can actually handle a bunch of ice and snow on the roads," Hogan said.
