A new ingredient in Maryland's recipe to keep you safe on the roads this winter.
As part of a pilot program in Howard and Frederick Counties, roads will be sprinkled with sugar beet molasses that's been mixed with salt brine to pre-treat highways for ice and snow.
Sugar beet molasses is "an adhesive property that's sticky and keeps salt brine on the road longer. It helps salt brine remain effective at low temperatures so there's not a layer of ice," said Charlie Gischlar, a spokesman for Maryland's SHA.
Other states across the U.S., particularly in areas where it's grown in the Midwest, have been using the sugar beet treatment for the past decade.
"This is a pilot to see if it works and we may expand it to other parts of the state next winter," said Gischlar.
Its stickiness will also help reduce salt scattering and keep it in place, he said.
