By Maggie Susa
The Herald-Dispatch
Huntington — Beet juice is being used across West Virginia, including Cabell County, to pretreat roads ahead of icy weather conditions.
It’s a fairly new practice, and the state Division of Highways, which is under the Department of Transportation, started using the substance on an experimental basis last winter.
While salt brine is effective at melting ice at temperatures in the 15- to 20-degree range, salt brine blended with beet juice can be effective at near-zero temperatures, according to state Highway Engineer Jacob Bumgarner.
“It’s not a magic pill,” Bumgarner said. “But it’s another tool in our toolbox.”
District garages across the state receive the ingredients to mix their own product before it’s put in trucks and distributed on the roads. Currently, it’s a mix of 80% traditional salt brine and 20% beet juice.
“It looks very much, kind of like a syrup or like a used oil. It’s very dark in color. It’s not bright red like you might expect,” said Luke Creasy, public information specialist for the West Virginia Department of Transportation.
Creasy compared it to stale coffee, in scent and appearance.
The beet juice also makes the salt brine stickier so it doesn’t wash away as easily. Additionally, when crews salt on top of the pretreatment, it sticks better.
The pretreatment is more expensive up front but Creasy says that it damages the roads less than chemical products so it actually saves money in the long run.
In 2025, the Department of Transportation spent more than $19 million on snow removal and ice control. Beet juice is also more environmentally friendly.
Many hardware stores sell beet-enhanced ice melters for home use.
