Magnesium chloride or salt? For automobiles, it’s a wash

Once the weather warms up enough that your car doors won’t freeze shut, it’s time for a car wash.

With abundant snow and ice this year, local roads and highways have been getting a heavy dose of de-icer and salt. Though formulations are less corrosive than salt alone, the chemicals still have the potential to eat through metal and rubber and create a sticky film on windshields and headlights.

“The magnesium chloride we buy is buffered so it’s 70 percent less corrosive than sodium chloride,” said Jon Harwood, operations manager for the Idaho Transportation Department in Coeur d’Alene.

But it still has a tendency to attack aluminum and other nonferrous metals, which means those shiny new wheels could become discolored and the underside of vehicles get a good crust of the stuff.

“There’s no doubt it would be a healthy practice to wash your vehicle regularly,” said Harwood.

ITD and the Washington State Department of Transportation typically use magnesium chloride or calcium chloride to treat roadways before storms or deal with small amounts of frost or snow. For larger amounts, however, salt is often used.

That salt is mixed with compounds that make it less corrosive, said Tom Root, maintenance and operation branch manager for WSDOT. It’s taken to the same level of corrosiveness of magnesium chloride – about 70 percent less corrosive than salt alone.

Root said WSDOT has several test sites where it is studying different combinations of salt and chemicals like magnesium chloride or with various approved corrosion inhibitors. The goal is to find what works best and what is cheapest.

Safe kids

AAA Washington/Inland has enlisted the help of an online cartoon car to teach kids about safety around streets and while biking.

Otto the Auto is joined by friends who use stories, songs and games to tell kids about crossing a street, wearing helmets and being careful around automobiles.

“It’s basically a way to teach young children about auto safety in an interactive format,” said AAA spokesman Dave Overstreet.

Children can play on the site alone, but it may be helpful for them to have an adult or older sibling along for the ride because some of the games would benefit from additional explanation about safety behaviors.

The activities can be accessed at www.aaa.com. Click on the “Otto the Auto” link on the left side of the page.

Sidewalks, take two

Flurries of confusion often accompany inches of snow.

That was the case last week when Getting There attempted to answer a reader’s question about who is responsible for clearing sidewalks on bridges.

To clarify, the Washington State Department of Transportation is responsible for clearing the snow from pedestrian bridges over Interstate 90, but sidewalks on bridges that include city streets are that city’s responsibility.

Got that? Judging by the snow that piles up on some of those sidewalks, transportation officials may not completely get it either.

Airborne bugs

A new report from the U.S. Department of Transportation gives new meaning to airborne diseases.

The manual is designed to help airports deal with communicable diseases and possible quarantine situations. It was written as part of the Bush Administration’s preparations for a possible pandemic influenza outbreak.

For those who want a look, the “National Aviation Resource Manual for Quarantinable Diseases” can be accessed at http://isddc.dot.gov/OLPFiles /OST/013334.pdf.

It includes a special appendix on cholera, diphtheria, Tuberculosis, plague, viral hemorrhagic fevers and more. Yikes.

Is that guy beside me coughing? Give me one of those hospital masks, please.