PORTLAND, Ore. — When Portland is hit with snow, it's usually paired with a traffic mess that tends to crop up when the city gets hit by heavy snow.
Whenever there's snow-assisted gridlock in Portland, it sparks a flood of familiar complaints on social media, including accusing Portland of not using road salt.
Some claims about Portland's winter weather struggles are unfair (yes we do have snow plows, and as Willamette Week points out, no one drives well on ice), but the road salt accusation sticks out because there was a time when it was true — neither the Oregon Department of Transportation nor the Portland Bureau of Transportation used salt.
THE QUESTION
Does Portland use road salt when it's snowy and icy out?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Yes, Portland uses road salt. ODOT uses it on freeways and PBOT uses it on Portland's major plowing routes.
WHAT WE FOUND
There was indeed a time not that long ago when PBOT and ODOT both avoided putting down road salt, mainly for environmental reasons. Salt can damage roads and bridges or build up in streams and rivers, and it's not great for cars either.
Oregon's relatively mild winters made it easier to get by without salt, but ODOT began testing salt in 2012 in response to more frequent snow and ice events.
PBOT eventually followed suit, and a big catalyst for the change was the exceptionally strong winter season in December 2016 and January 2017, when icy gridlock kept the roads clogged for days and public frustration with the saltless city reached a fever pitch.
Not long after, then-Commissioner Dan Saltzman announced that he was revamping PBOT's winter storm strategy to add more plow routes and expand the use of road salt for future weather events.
Today, salt is a regular tool in Oregon's winter weather toolbox. When a major ice storm was closing in on Portland in 2022, PBOT and ODOT both told KGW that they would have salt ready to deploy along specific routes, along with magnesium chloride deicer and sand.
During the February 2023 snowstorm, PBOT said it had responded to the current winter storm by applying 45 tons of salt, plus 8,000 gallons of deicer, along the city's priority snow routes.
The city has also published an FAQ for residents and business owners about how the help minimize the environmental impact of wintertime salt.
Note: This story was first published in February 2023.
