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Gritting operations in action over Christmas
Gritting crews will be salting the mains roads across the borough again tonight as the wintry weather, with snow predictions, keeps the Council’s winter service operations at full alert. The 200 miles of priority routes will be salted again as they have been every day over the holiday period as road temperatures have been predicted to fall to freezing and below. Pavements around town centres have also been salted as shoppers look for bargains.
“There was no sleeping off the turkey for our gritting crews as obviously our priority has been to keep major routes free of ice and snow. We’re pleased with the way the operation has gone. But, there is always a limit as to how much we can do - particularly on smaller less busy residential roads” said Councillor George Taylor, Executive Councillor for the Environment.
The eleven 4 wheel drive gritting lorries are on 24 hour standby ready to treat the roads when detailed local forecasts indicate that frost/ice is likely to form on the road surface. Dedicated weather stations in Biggin Hill and St. Mary Cray help ensure that gritting only takes place in the parts of the borough that are predicted to be icy. Tailored weather predictions from the Meteorological Office are also used to help with forecasting.
The decision to grit roads is not purely based on the road surface temperature. It is also based on other considerations. For instance, if a road surface is predicted to remain dry, then the road would not be gritted. If there is rainfall however, salting would take place after the rain has stopped - so that the salt is not washed away. Ideally, gritting should take place when the roads are relatively free of traffic. But, in the case of snowfall, this is not always possible. Care is taken to strictly salt roads only when necessary because of environmental factors.
The 200 miles of ‘main priority’ routes cover approximately 40% of the Borough’s roads. The precautionary salting operations cover the main priority routes which include:
- Important main roads (Red Routes across the Borough are salted by Transport for London, TFL)
- Main bus routes
- Roads leading to fire and ambulance stations, hospitals and many schools
- Approaches to 'transport interchanges' such as train stations
- Other hazardous locations such as steep hills
ENDS