If you've traveled US13 or SR1 north of Smyrna lately, you've no doubt seen the enormous blue and white barn-shaped structure that has recently appeared on the site of the old Turf Farm - the property that DelDOT used as a staging area during the construction of SR1.  So, what exactly is that building, anyway?  It's a salt barn.  Yes, it's quite different from the old-style salt barns. But possibly something you will start seeing more of in the coming years.

The Department researched new "cover all" salt barn structures and this one is quicker to build and more cost-effective than the others (about 1/3 less than conventional salt barns).  It's made of steel trusses covered by a high-density polymer that is water repellant and designed to resist corrosion.  The building holds 6,000 tons of road salt.  The steel framework can be assembled in a week with the canopy following shortly thereafter.

The enormity of the structure is evident in the picture below showing a DelDOT employee standing inside the salt barn.

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