Sign up to the 'Gritter Twitter'
Worcestershire County Council has
launched a 'Gritter Twitter' account for up to date
information on gritting, public transport and services affected by
the current severe weather. To sign up to the Worcestershire County
Council Twitter account residents and businesses are encouraged to
visit www.twitter.com/worcscc.
Information on gritting, public transport and
affected services is regularly updated and also available by
visiting http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/ and
by tuning in to your local radio station.
Local radio station
frequencies:
BBC Hereford &
Worcester
104FM, 104.6FM OR 94.7FM
Touch
FM
102.0FM
Wyvern
FM
102.8FM
The
Wyre
107.2FM
Worcestershire County Council's gritting teams have been working
around the clock since temperatures plummeted to keep roads
safe for motorists and are ready to face any challenges this cold
snap might bring.
There are currently 31 gritters, two
demountable gritters and two towable gritters working at maximum
capacity on the county's roads. With more cold weather predicted
the authority is reassuring residents it is best prepared to face
the challenge ahead.
Up to 12,000 tonnes of salt can be used in an
average gritting season, although during last winter's extreme
weather 20,000 tonnes were required. A daily routine treatment of
the highway network covers around 800 miles of
Worcestershire's roads.
Cllr Derek Prodger MBE, The County Council's Cabinet Member
for Transport and Safe Environment, said: "Our gritting
teams have been working hard treating Worcestershire's roads since
temperatures dropped around three weeks ago to keep conditions on
the county's highways as safe as possible. "
"We've done all we can to be
best prepared to meet the challenges that this pro-longed cold snap
could bring and at present there's no danger of the authority
running out of grit in the near future. We do have more orders in
with our salt suppliers, but are conscious it's possible that the
extreme weather conditions being experienced nationally may cause
implications when to comes to supply."
"As is always the case,
we'd urge motorists to temper their driving according to the
conditions as it's never safe to assume that just because a road
has been gritted it's safe to travel at normal speeds."
A host of information about gritting is available at www.worcestershire.gov.uk/gritting
Click on the links below for details of
gritting routes by area
Key:
- Red routes are the precautionary routes
- Blue routes are the secondary routes
- Green routes are those covered by cross boundary agreements
with neighbouring counties
- Blue dotted routes are turning circles
The routes include additional roads/streets
that have been included following feedback from residents. Every
call the authority received regarding gritting routes was
investigated to see if including new roads or streets was
possible.
When adding in new routes is being
considered a number of things into consideration,
including:
- Capacity on adjacent routes for the
authority's fleet of gritting vehicles.
- The speed and volume of traffic on the roads,
as well as any gradients and bends.
- The frequency of any buses (public or school
buses) is considered and;
- What facilities/buildings are
located on the road – any schools, residential homes,
emergency service depots, shops or anything that may attract high
volumes of traffic or contain vulnerable residents.
