KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The salt dome in the Northeast Industrial District is one of five locations where road crews can stock up before treating the streets.
It has served the Kansas City, Missouri Public Works Department for nearly 30 years. Nowadays, you can see the wear and tear from those years.
KCMO Public Works considers a third of the building on the 5300 block of Municipal Avenue as obsolete.
“This salt dome is at the end of its useful life,” said Beth Breitenstein, a KCMO public works spokesperson. “It’s progressing with its failure and we want to make sure that we’re ahead of it."
The lining that protects the dome is peeling away and the conveyor system that fills it with road salt is constantly breaking down.
This week the finance committee will consider appropriating $1.5 million to build a new salt dome. The public works department already has a design in mind.
“We’re seeing that a rectangular dome functions well, it’s better technology, it’s a better set up for efficiency and safety,” Breitenstein said.
It would be similar to the dome located at 81st and Indiana that was built five years ago.
“You’re definitely improving on how much time it takes for a truck to load in and of course you’re minimizing the amount of mechanical failures you’re having to deal with on a regular basis,” Breitenstein said.
If the funding is passed, the new dome would go up before the next snow season.
“We have a lot of ground to cover in Kansas City so we want great functioning salt domes citywide,” Breitenstein said.
The finance committee will discuss the funding at their meeting on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.
