The total cumulative losses caused by over-salting and under-salting reach hundreds of millions of dollars annually for New York State and tens of billions of dollars over standard infrastructure lifespans.
Winter road maintenance in New York is caught in a costly bind. Spread too much salt, and we quietly do about $738 million in damage to our infrastructure every winter. Over 20 years, that adds up to $14.7 billion in taxpayer money spent repairing crumbling concrete and rusted rebar. Spread too little, and one major freeze can bring the state economy to a standstill, costing as much as $700 million a day in accidents, gridlock, and stalled freight.
SaltBae takes the guesswork out of the hands of anxious drivers and puts it in a smart device at the edge. It runs machine learning locally on the bridge node, reads live road conditions, and applies only the minimum amount of salt needed. That keeps Western New York drivers safe on ice-free lanes and protects our bridges from decades of slow, expensive decay.
