Motoring & Transport | Posted on October 29th, 2024 | return to news
Brr… Dorset gritting crews get ready for icy winter
Around 100 members of Dorset Council’s highways team are ready to work day and night to keep roads open in the county.
Although it has been relatively mild recently, Dorset Council’s highways team is on standby to ensure key routes remain safe and passable when temperatures drop.
Just under 100 members of the council’s regular highways team are ready, day and night, to keep vital roads open. The depots have been restocked with rock salt and 25 new vehicles are in place to enhance winter preparations.
Cllr Jon Andrews, Cabinet member for Place Services, said: “As always, we are well-prepared to keep vital roads open during adverse weather conditions.
“Our dedicated teams step away from their regular duties when needed to ensure residents, businesses and emergency services can continue to travel around safely.”
Dorset’s gritting operations cover 684 miles of roads, forming 23 main gritting routes. These roads are treated when surface temperatures are expected to drop below half of one degree Celsius.
Additionally, community routes serving smaller villages and hamlets will be treated during prolonged periods of freezing temperatures to ensure rural communities can continue to travel.
As the gritting crews comprise Dorset Council employees who carry out other highways maintenance roles, there may be times when more crews are needed for gritting. This may delay other regular highways work taking place.
Cllr Andrews said: “Conditions can change quickly, so please take care when out and about. If you find yourself behind a gritting vehicle, please be patient and take care on freshly gritted roads.”
“Our crews are on call for six months every winter to keep our roads safe, stepping away from their busy regular roles. Please be courteous when you see them, whether in the gritter lorry or doing regular highways work. They are working hard to keep Dorset moving and you safe.”
Motorists are urged to drive with care on freshly gritted roads and this is the advice from Dorset Council.
“Salt (grit) needs to be dissolved into a solution to work. When we grit, we need vehicles to travel on it to ‘activate’ it. If you travel early in the morning or are the first to drive on a gritted road, please drive with care.
“Even on treated roads it cannot be guaranteed there will no be ice. Additionally, rain can wash salt off the road, as can water run-off from fields. Please take care, reduce speed and keep a safe distance from the next vehicle. Remember, even if gritters have been out, roads can still be slippery.”
For more advice, visit https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/cold-weather-advice.
The Met Office also has advice for driving safely in winter weather on https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/seasonal-advice/travel/driving-in-severe-weather.
Last winter saw the gritting crews called into action on 39 occasions from 1 November to 1 April. They carried out 58 individual route treatments, using 2,839 tonnes of salt. With milder weather, the callouts were down on the winter of 2022–23.
The busiest month for gritter drivers was January, when they were called out on 19 days and laid 1,648 tonnes of salt.
The 23 main gritting routes, collectively known as the precautionary network, encompass A, B, and well-used C class roads. They also include: links to hospitals, large industrial estates, transport interchanges, emergency services stations (including manned Coastguard and RNLI stations), and other critical infrastructure; routes to all urban schools with more than 500 pupils and rural schools with more than 350 pupils; primary bus routes with substantial frequency and main routes through towns and villages with populations of more than 750.
Dorset Council also treats the A35 trunk road between Bere Regis and Charmouth on behalf of National Highways.
When and if it snows, the crews clear and treat routes on what is known as the ‘priority ploughing network.’ These key north/south and east/west routes are cleared of snow before clearing the remaining gritting network.
The council uses a route-based weather forecasting system to identify which roads need to be gritted. This enables them to grit roads only when needed. This is better for the environment, and saves money, with less salt used and fewer lorry journeys.
Dorset Council has invested in 25 new vehicles over the past year to enhance our winter preparations. These vehicles are more efficient, with modern engines that have increased fuel economy.
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