Flathead County road workers have switched from summer to winter mode, Public Works Director Dave Prunty told county commissioners recently.

Employees are mixing the 20,000 tons of sand and salt that is placed on icy roads during the winter, he said. The mixing process was delayed because the pug mill the county used each fall was sold. A mill was found in Billings and hauled to Kalispell last month.

The county continues to use a 90 percent sand, 10 percent rock salt mixture.

The road department’s trucks have been converted to move snow, with plows and sanders put on the dump trucks for the winter, Prunty said.

In October, road department employees hauled 17,700 yards of gravel out for placement on county roads, he said.

Bentonite was mixed in with the gravel during this fall’s road blading.

“It’s holding those roads together and it controls dust,” Prunty said. While the bentonite doesn’t control dust as well as the standard dust control products used in the summer, “it’s making a difference.”

This year, the county applied 18.45 miles of asphalt overlay on county roads for a total cost of $1.8 million, or $97,000 a mile.

“We expected the cost to be between $90,000 and $100,000 a mile,” he said.

The county made its own asphalt this year for $43.54 a ton. The cost went up because of the higher cost of propane, he said. Propane costs alone for the effort were $144,000.

If the county had purchased asphalt from a private company, the cost would have been between $49 and $52 a ton.

The county has made asphalt for use on county roads since 1976.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.