Salt piles dwindling for private contractors as snow continues to fall in Massachusetts

With more snow on the way Tuesday and the rest of the winter, some private contractors say they're having a difficult time securing road salt while their salt piles continue to dwindle. 

"This year has kind of taken everyone off guard because of the strong start to the season and now the cold temperatures causing salt shortages," said Shane McNeill, who runs G. McNeill & Son Contracting Group in Stoughton. "This holds about 80 yards of salt. This is what we try to keep full. As you can tell it's about half full right now."

Road salt shortage

He showed WBZ-TV several of his salt storage bins and shipping containers that are spread throughout the state. He would like to see them fuller.

"We try and keep about 450 tons on the ground at all times which gives us a few storms and some on the reserve," McNeil said.

While Massachusetts cities and towns are not seeing a major problem securing salt, it's the many thousands of private contractors feeling the pinch right now as they try to service large parking lots, hospitals, shopping centers and apartment complexes.

"There are a lot of contractors within the state, within the whole east coast now that has no access to it," McNeil said.

Severe weather conditions

Many towns are plowing more to reserve the salt supply. McNeill said many private contractors get turned away from the supply when there is salt shortage. Shipments of salt are having a tough time arriving due to severe weather conditions.

"A lot of it is the barges can't get into the docks to off load and when they do it takes about a week to get all the salt on deck and start shipping," McNeil said.

He said the only reason why he still has salt is because he planned in advance for a tough winter.

"We did go far above and beyond on making sure we can access salt because we do medical facilities, so it becomes a public safety issue," he said.