The City of Ames is yielding a new weapon against icy roads this winter to help residents during the snowy months.

The city has invested in a new salt brine truck to use before snow falls to help residents travel on the roads during adverse winter conditions.

“The street maintenance folks did research and found that the new salt brine trucks may actually help prevent roads from getting slippery, although it doesn’t work for temperatures below [negative] 10 [degrees],” said Clare Bills, City of Ames public relations officer.

Despite the chilly temperature, snow on major streets in Ames is already melted because of the salt brine solution, Bills said.

“This is a solution of calcium chloride we spray down before the ice bonds with the roads — this makes it easier for ice and snow to come off,” said Steve Salvo, operations administrator with the Ames Public Works streets division.

This new solution only uses 37 percent salt, whereas the rock salt that was formerly spread on streets contained almost 100 percent salt, Salvo said. The salt brine actually dries on the pavement and will continue to work and protect the streets from ice and snow until it is worn off.

Salvo said the new salt brine system works faster than the old anti-icing methods. He said it is advantageous because it cleans the roads better and enables the snow and ice to come off more quickly.

Since it is already in a liquid state, the solution is dissolved when it is displaced. The rock salt was not able to dissolve until motorists broke it up with their cars’ wheels, he said.

“We haven’t really had any comments on the new truck yet, so we assume it must be working well,” Salvo said.

He said there are more uses for the new truck than just spraying salt brine. It can also be used to plow and haul snow, flush streets and carry rock with a tandem truck.

“It has worked very well for the season so far, although we’ve only had a couple of small storms and the big one,” Salvo said.