How winter service in the Starnberg district saves salt

Created: 12/29/2021, 11:20 AM

From: Petra Straub

Tour of the Gilching road maintenance facility: from the left Klaus Mörtl, Werner Bartsch and Gregor Wolf from the road maintenance facility, the state parliament member Dr.

Ute Eiling-Hütig, road foreman Felix Weiß, Silke Schweigler and Martin Dondl from the Weilheim State Building Authority, District Administrator Stefan Frey, Jacob Eberle and Stefan Scheckinger from the State Building Authority and Gilching's mayor Manfred Walter.

© State Building Authority Weilheim

Gilching - There were several reasons for local politicians and representatives of the Weilheim State Building Authority to visit the road maintenance depot in Gilching.

There is now a modern vehicle for winter service there.

In addition, the buildings are partially dilapidated and an alternative location is being sought.

On the occasion of the purchase of a new winter service vehicle by the district of Starnberg, District Administrator Stefan Frey, Member of Parliament Dr.

Ute Eiling-Hütig and Mayor Manfred Walter run the road maintenance depot in Gilching.

The new road foreman Felix Weiß gave an overview of the winter service and presented the new truck.

He then led the visit through the facility.

The Weilheim State Building Authority looks after 181 kilometers of federal and state roads in the Starnberg district and an additional 43 kilometers of district roads on behalf of the district. The Gilching road maintenance depot, with its base in Söcking, is responsible, together with the Wolfratshausen road maintenance department, for maintaining the regional transport network and around 55 kilometers of sidewalks and cycle paths in the district, according to a press release from the Weilheijm State Building Authority. The Gilching road maintenance department employs a total of 18 people, four of whom are district employees.

“In addition to regular inspection drives, various repair work and the removal of accident or storm damage, the associated green areas must also be maintained, the road equipment and road drainage maintained or traffic signs set up.

The winter service represents a central pillar within the operations service, ”said Felix Weiß, road foreman at the Gilching road maintenance depot, explaining the service portfolio of his team.

Winter service around the clock on the B2

On federal and state roads with above-average traffic, for example on the B 2 between Starnberg and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, it is particularly important to be able to drive them.

If necessary, winter service is carried out here around the clock.

The rest of the road network is primarily kept in a passable condition between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

More than half of the winter service operations on this network also start at 3 a.m. in order to be able to remove slippery roads caused by snow, frost or ice at night before the start of rush hour traffic.

The cycle paths are looked after in the same way as the streets from 6 to 22.

When it comes to salting in the Starnberg district, it depends on the dose

The winter service follows the principle “as much salt as necessary, as little as possible”. In terms of effectiveness and economy, salt continues to be the best thawing agent. By moistening the dry de-icing salt with a salt solution (brine) immediately before spreading it, the losses due to being blown and thrown away are reduced and a more even distribution of the salt on the roadway is guaranteed. That is why all clearing and spreading vehicles of the Bavarian road construction administration are equipped with so-called wet salt spreaders.

The state building authority Weilheim and the district of Starnberg jointly procure rock salt to combat the slipperiness.

The rock salt is delivered in bulk.

Some of the salt is stored in the salt hall, which can hold 1,400 tons of salt.

There are also two tower silos with a total capacity of 400 tons.

This means that the Gilching road maintenance depot can accommodate around 2,200 tons.

Another part of the rock salt is mixed with water in a so-called brine generator to form a salt solution.

The brine has a salt content of around 20 to 23 percent.

The system can produce 1,500 liters of brine per hour.

120,000 liters of brine can be stored in the tanks. 

Cost-effective and environmentally friendly vehicle for winter service in Gilching

The district is supplementing the vehicle fleet of the Gilching road maintenance depot by purchasing a truck for 386,000 euros. “The special thing about our new 430 HP truck is that it can spread dry salt as well as wet salt and brine in various formulations during winter service with its automatic spreader. This means that it is more cost-effective and environmentally friendly than its predecessor. Because if, for example, slipperiness is announced for the early morning hours, a preventive spreading operation is carried out the evening before. To achieve the same result, you need ten grams of pre-wetted salt per square meter with the conventional FS 30 spreading method; the pre-wetted salt is made up of around eight grams of dry salt and two grams of water. With the new FS 100 technology, which is used at an outside temperature of down to minus 6 degrees,pure liquid brine is applied, which is made up of only about three grams of dry salt and twelve grams of water per square meter. With this new technology, almost a third of the amount of salt is saved, explains Weiß.

Active environmental and species protection in the Starnberg district

This means that less salt has to be released into the environment per use and the longer time the salt remains on the road, the time intervals between the operations are longer. The lower amount of salt helps to save money and, at the same time, the district actively protects the environment and species, according to the Weilheim State Building Authority in the press release. Member of the State Parliament Dr. Eiling-Hütig and District Administrator Frey got an impression of the environmentally-saving technology of the new truck during a short test drive. The technical flexibility of the new vehicle, which will be used all year round and which was largely financed by the district, is a great advantage. In winter service, the focus is on clearing and spreading.In summer, due to the advantageous short set-up times, the truck will be used in addition to various excavation and transport work using a lifting work basket for up to two people to assemble large advance whiteners and to cut back wood.

Visited the building of the homestead

Afterwards, the visitors toured the road maintenance depot and thus gained a complete overview of this property.

Due to the sometimes very poor condition of some buildings and the inner-city location, a possible relocation of the Gilching road maintenance depot was discussed.

"We need a piece of land for our team in Gilching to make space for residential development," states Stefan Scheckinger, head of the Weilheim State Building Authority.

District Administrator Frey, Member of Parliament Dr.

Eiling-Hütig and First Mayor Walter agreed to support the property search.

"I have great respect for the work of the road maintenance department," said District Administrator Frey, summarizing his impressions after the inspection, and thanked the road maintenance staff - especially for the often not entirely harmless winter service assignments.