When the Kansas Department of Transportation treat highways for ice, motorists might notice darker trails on the pavement instead of the usual white trails left by brine.

 

It's beet juice. The properties of beet juice, when mixed with brine, allow the melting agent to be effective at lower temperatures. Beet juice mixed with brine can help control ice when it's as cold as around zero degrees.

 

Beet juice also allows brine and salt to adhere to pavement longer.

 

On bridges, beet juice bonds to the salt crystals in brine and helps the brine stick to a bridge deck longer.

 

The Kansas Department of Transportation began experimenting with the beet juice it uses now during the winter of 2015 in Northwestern Kansas. Since then, KDOT has made beet juice available at more than 20 locations across the state of Kansas.