Image
Six gritters, which have been named after local places by residents, are on standby round the clock to go out and treat roads to keep the area moving.
Weston-scooper-Mare, Burrrrrington, Portispread, Nailski, Sleetholm and Bleadon-cold are ready when temperatures drop.
Last winter our fleet went out 48 times, completing 29 full runs and 19 ‘wet spot’ runs.
The gritters travelled 12,246 miles of which 7,118 were treated using an estimated 1,273 tonnes of salt. They have already done trial gritting runs this year.
Our winter maintenance programme runs from the end of October through to the end of March but preparation starts as early as May when we review our operational plan and start considering how much salt we’ll need to treat our roads over the winter period.
Our decision to grit is based on weather forecasts and three weather stations we have in the area that monitor road temperatures rather than air temperatures.
Our highways staff are on duty 24-hours a day - including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day - to monitor weather conditions and let the gritter crews know when they’re needed. Our six gritter lorries are on round-the-clock standby and can be called out to grit main routes with just two hours’ notice.
For more information about the council’s winter maintenance programme and to see the gritting routes visit our website or follow nstravelandroads on Facebook.