For the fourth straight year, Carroll County road crews are busy
spraying area dirt roads with a calcium chloride solution in an
effort to keep down dust, and residents who live on those
unpaved roads are certainly clamoring for the treatment.
“Everybody who lives on a dirt road wants it, but there isn’t
any way we can spray every dirt road in the county,” said Public
Works Superintendent Charles Pope. Typically, the county sprays
roughly a fourth of the approximately 275 miles of dirt roads in
Carroll County. While this practice is not necessarily an
alternative to paving—during the warm weather months, the county
is constantly in the process of paving and resurfacing areas
that need it—it does much to keep dust down, which not only
helps keep houses and cars along those thoroughfares clean but
also provides cleaner air for residents who have lung or allergy
problems. The solution is nontoxic, which means it doesn’t
damage the environment, hurt animals or affect the exterior of
passing cars. And while keepin