What happened to beet juice?

Thanks for your article about salt being a serious problem for our environment [“Cutting down on salt,” November/December, 2014]. Few of us stop to realize it, but it’s important. Neither your article nor the editorial mentioned beet juice as a de-icer for highways. The New York State Department of Transportation and the Thruway Authority were going to try it. How did it work out? Or is it too slippery—maybe as slippery as ice?

Milton Zimmerman, Elka Park