City will use beet juice to de-ice roads

They'll show it off Friday morning. Here's the release from the city:

CITY CREWS JUICING UP SNOW OPERATIONS
Tests will see if beet juice mixture can help clear snow and ice on roadways

WHAT: The City of Cincinnati will be testing an anti-icing product made from processed sugar beets to help keep roads clear during snow events. The product, called Geo Melt, is a natural product that works well when mixed with either granular salt or liquid salt brine to keep ice from forming on the roads before a storm.

Geo Melt also assists with melting snow and ice once the precipitation has fallen onto the roads. When combined with salt or brine, the beet juice freezes at a lower temperature than salt alone allowing the treatment to be effective at temperatures even below zero. Salt with calcium chloride is typically only effective to about 20 degrees. The mixture reduces the corrosive properties of salt and improves its effectiveness.

The sugar beet juice is brown in color so motorists will see salt and brine on roadways that is somewhat brown instead of the traditional white. Citizens should note that Geo Melt is processed differently than beet juice that can be purchased at grocery and health food stores, and so would not see similar results with home remedies.

The City will test the beet juice in six locations representing different various road conditions. The City of Cincinnati will test the product to determine the effectiveness of this additive on our particular road conditions during January and February.