NJDOT: Salt shortage could force road closures

A low-salt diet may be good for people with high blood pressure, but it’s not helping New Jersey’s highways.

An abundance of snow this season has depleted salt reserves around the state. New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner James Simpson says that could force him to close major roadways during storms if a solution isn’t reached.

Simpson tells The Star-Ledger he’s been lobbying the federal government to get a waiver so an empty ship harbored in Maine can bring a 40,000-ton shipment of salt to New jersey. But he says he hasn’t been successful so far.

Simpson says the U.S. Department of Transportation told him it has found two barges that could carry a total of 15,000 tons to New Jersey, in about three weeks.