Bethel weighs buying road salt before the river freezes

Bethel would buy $55,000 worth of salt for its streets and roads ahead of freeze-up under a measure the City Council takes up Tuesday.

Bethel sits off the road system, the hub of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta with no highway in or out. Supplies arrive by air and by barge up the Kuskokwim River, and once the river freezes, that window closes — so bulk orders like road chemicals have to land before winter.

The city has stocked up this way before. A 2016 solicitation shows Bethel buying both calcium chloride, which keeps dust down on the gravel roads, and sodium chloride, plain road salt for ice, delivered to the City Shop on Ridgecrest Drive.

The council meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. Residents can submit written comments through the city's form up to 24 hours beforehand, or speak in person under People to Be Heard, which allows five minutes each and no advance sign-up.