Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A possible change to Massachusetts roads could better winter driving.
Massachusetts State Sen. Patrick O'Connor wants to implement Conductive Concrete in Massachusetts, hoping to decrease the amount of road repairs needed due to weather damage, as well as reduce environmental impact from salting roads which he said was "staggering."
Conductive Concrete was invented by Cristopher Y. Tuan, a Structural Engineering professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to melt snow and ice on roads during winter storms. The concrete is embedded with metal to conduct electricity through it, which heats the concrete in a range of 35 to 50-degrees Fahrenheit, enough to melt snow and ice on the surface.
O'Connor introduced a bill to have UMass Engineering test the concept for Massachusetts roads.
"Obviously there's a bunch of elements that come into this, the first one obviously being price, we would like the analysis done to compare that price versus how much money would be saved on the backend," O'Connor said.
Professor Tuan has said Conductive Concrete can cost more than twice as much as normal concrete, estimated at $300 per cubic yard, with regular concrete costing around $120.
O'Connor thinks it may be worth the price in order to save the state money on plowing and road repair costs.
"You're going to be able to save motorists a lot of money from the amount of potholes you have to fix. In 2014 Massachusetts spent over $40 million," O'Connor said.
According to Mass.gov, for the 2021 fiscal year, 350 communities in Massachusetts spent a combined total of $167.4 million on snow and ice removal. O'Connor said implementing this kind of technology for major roads could substantially lower snow and ice removal costs, but studies will have to be completed to know by how much.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.