{"id":26346,"date":"2025-12-09T07:20:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/2025\/12\/09\/beet-juice-fights-icy-roads\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T07:20:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:20:54","slug":"beet-juice-fights-icy-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/2025\/12\/09\/beet-juice-fights-icy-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"Beet Juice Fights Icy Roads"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Introduction to Beet Juice as a Solution for Icy Roads<\/h1>\n<p>December is here, and already we\u2019ve seen multiple winter systems bring impacts to travelers, with more headaches to come. It is known that salt is an effective tool to battle snow and ice on the roads, but it has its limitations.<\/p>\n<h2>What is Beet Juice and How Does it Work?<\/h2>\n<p>That\u2019s where the beet juice comes in.<\/p>\n<h3>Key Points to Consider<\/h3>\n<h4 style=\"text-indent: 10px;\">What You Need To Know<\/h4>\n<h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Beet juice is used to treat icy roads across many states<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>It is used when temperatures drop below 26 degrees<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>While more effect and environmentally friendly, it is more expensive than other options<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/h5>\n<h2>The Effectiveness of Beet Juice<\/h2>\n<p>Before and during winter storms, states use salt to help keep roads clear by lowering the freezing point. As temperatures drop, salt becomes less effective, which means other options must be considered.<br \/>\nBeet juice, surprisingly, has been the go-to choice in recent years, especially in states like Missouri. The salt and beet juice mix is effective when temperatures range from 25 to 5 degrees, according to the MoDOT website.<\/p>\n<h3>Environmental and Economic Considerations<\/h3>\n<p>The beet sugar, which is the same product used for cattle feed and table sugar, not only sticks to roads better but also is more environmentally friendly.<br \/>\nSalt products can be corrosive and cost billions of dollars to infrastructure and vehicles every year.<br \/>\nA tractor operates in a salt storage facility in North Carolina. (NCDOT)<\/p>\n<h2>Limitations and Alternatives<\/h2>\n<p>So what is the catch? Unfortunately, beet juice is more expensive ($1.70-$1.85 per gallon) so states usually only use it when necessary. It loses its effectiveness once temperatures drop below 5 degrees, so most DOTs turn to calcium chloride as the best option.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>While there is no perfect solution, beet juice will help keep drivers safe this winter.<br \/>\nOur team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.<\/p>\n<h2>FAQs<\/h2>\n<p>Q: What is beet juice used for in winter road maintenance?<br \/>\nA: Beet juice is used to treat icy roads across many states, particularly when temperatures drop below 26 degrees.<br \/>\nQ: Is beet juice more environmentally friendly than salt?<br \/>\nA: Yes, beet juice is more environmentally friendly than salt, as it is less corrosive and does not harm infrastructure and vehicles.<br \/>\nQ: Why is beet juice not used at extremely low temperatures?<br \/>\nA: Beet juice loses its effectiveness once temperatures drop below 5 degrees, at which point calcium chloride is used as a more effective alternative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction to Beet Juice as a Solution for Icy Roads December is here, and already we\u2019ve seen multiple winter systems bring impacts to travelers, with more headaches to come. It is known that salt is an effective tool to battle snow and ice on the roads, but it has its limitations. What is Beet Juice [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-26346","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-weather"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/AP_Dallas_road_treatment_01092025?w=1280&resize=1280,720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26349,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26346\/revisions\/26349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}