Slip Slidin' Away

Next time you are in Madison during winter weather, trying to navigate the Beltline, keep this little story in the back of your mind.

Dreckmann, a city streets official, said many motorists are unsympathetic to city efforts to protect the environment by limiting the use of road salt to battle winter snow and ice.
[...]
"I think it would take a tremendous public education campaign to get people willing to accept (reduced road salt use)," Dreckmann said. "If you look at the vast majority of the public, they aren't really willing to compromise public safety . . . in the absence of a crisis."
[...]
Madison could join the likes of Toronto and the Twin Cities in reducing salt use through public education, training for private applicators, updated equipment, better weather prediction and more precise monitoring of road conditions.

Longer-term recommendations being debated include laws to regulate private and public use of salt, including mandatory training and certification for those who apply road salt.

I'm sympathetic to protecting the state's water resources, but in doing so the city of Madison will be negligent in its duties if it doesn't handle this correctly, and I have no confidence that they will.