The use of porous (e.g. porous asphalt) or open-textured (e.g. stone mastic asphalt) surfacings is spreading in a good many countries for reasons of safety (high skid resistance, no rutting, reduced splash and spray) and comfort (low rolling noise levels, reduction of light reflections). Unfortunately, under winter conditions these surfacings do not behave like conventional closed surfacings, for various reasons: (1) Moisture is entrapped almost permanently in their pores in winter and may in some cases lead to solid condensation at the road surface; (2) Their high porosity prevents salts spread for anti-icing or de-icing purposes from staying active on the surface; and (3). Their lower thermal conductivity (or insulating nature) causes their surface temperature to drop more sharply and severely under certain climatic conditions. As a result, larger amounts of conventional de-icing salts have to be spread and winter maintenance gangs have to turn out sooner. Hence the need to look for de-icing salts that are more appropriate on open-graded road surfacings. One solution may be to use a mixture of 1/3 of calcium chloride (CaCl2) flakes and 2/3 of coarse sodium chloride (NaCl) grains up to 5 mm in size. This paper discusses the observations made in the laboratory and on site with this new mixture, which has been commercially available in Belgium since 1995.