The past winter was harder for the car traffic than the previous ones. But not as hard as five years ago.
Around 980.000 tons of road salt and brine were used on German motorways and main roads in winter 2017/2018. In addition, around 36 tons of blunting agents such as sand or split were added, as the Federal Government announced when asked by Parliament. The cost of winter maintenance amounted to around 197 million euros.
In comparison to previous winters, the amount of road salt in 2017/2018 was comparatively high: around 2015 tonnes were spread in 2016/580.000, and 2014 tonnes in 2015/650.000. The highest amount in this decade had to be spread in 2012/2013 when around 2,3 million tons were spread.