WHEATFIELD, N.Y. (WKBW) — With winter fast approaching, highway departments across Niagara County are taking no chances after last year’s rock salt shortage left some communities scrambling to keep up during major storms.
In the Town of Wheatfield, Highway Superintendent Paul Siegmann says their early preparation helped them avoid running out of salt last year — but just barely.
“We were fortunate that we had enough in stockpile that we didn’t run out. We did get close,” Siegmann said
When some nearby towns ran low, Wheatfield and other municipalities worked together to make sure main roads and intersections stayed clear.
“Our 12 towns in the county, and even some of the cities like North Tonawanda, if somebody was totally out of salt, we would share salt with them,” Siegmann said.
WATCH: Niagara County stocks up early to avoid another rock salt shortage
Niagara County’s Department of Highways and Parks faced similar challenges. Superintendent Richard Sirianni said American Rock Salt, the state’s primary supplier, struggled to meet demand last winter, forcing towns to ration what they had.
“If I needed 500 tons, they’d send me 200 and spread it around for everybody,” Sirianni explained.
This year, Sirianni has already ordered hundreds of additional tons to ensure the county has a reserve before the first major snowfall.
“It gives us a little bit of a safety net,” he said. “We’re as prepared as we could be.”
The following statement was sent to 7 News from The New York State Office of General Services:
"The safety of drivers on New York State’s roads continues to be a top priority for Governor Hochul’s administration.
The New York State Office of General Services is responsible for establishing and managing the state’s centralized road salt contract. Close engagement with our contract users in 2025 allowed us to make substantive changes for the state’s 2025-26 salt awards to improve vendor accountability and offer more protection to contract users when they need to buy salt from an alternate supplier.”
Those changes include:
- Removing the Buy American preference language
- Requiring bidders to indicate the absolute maximum tonnage of road salt that they would be able to provide. This will help determine whether they can reasonably be expected to meet their contract obligations and if they could serve as an emergency backup supplier.
- Adding language to clarify procedures that contract users and OGS will follow in the event that a road salt contractor is not responsive to orders placed.
- Expanding options if there are shortages to include the purchase of treated salt, and not just road salt, from an alternative or emergency supplier.
- Adding a timeframe for vendors to issue a credit or refund to a contract user who purchases from an alternative or emergency supplier.
