Buffalo Grove completes new salt dome

Buffalo Grove's new salt dome was completed early and with some cost savings.

Public Works Director Mike Reynolds said last week that the work was completed four days ahead of schedule on Dec. 11. A walk-through inspection was conducted last Monday and all that remains to be done are roughly a half-dozen minor "punch list" items, he said.

The village is scheduled to start filling the dome, located at 51 Raupp Blvd. across the street from village hall, on Monday, Dec. 28.

The dome will be able to hold a year's supply of salt at one time and the village will "not have to take just-in-time shipments from salt vendors, biting our nails at the eleventh hour, wondering if and when our salt deliverers will come," Reynolds said.

The village saved more than $77,000 dollars in paving costs by hiring the village's contractor rather than going through the builder, Dome Corporation of America, Reynolds said. The paving cost was about $319,000.

"We had a suspicion we could get it for less if we sought pricing on our own, which we did," Reynolds said.

The dome replaces a structure that was sagging after last winter. It is 48 feet tall, nearly twice as high as its predecessor, and will hold 3,700 tons of road salt. With the new dome, the village will have greater flexibility for ordering salt and taking delivery, minimizing the danger of shortages or supply chain interruptions, which would result in increased salt cost, Reynolds wrote in a memo.