As Staffordshire County Council confirm that gritting crews are working round the clock we look at where the gritting routes are in Stone.
Gritters were out from 11am today on higher ground following forecasts of up to 6cms of snow on the hills, while crews are also preparing to go out again this evening and then stand to from 5am onwards on Friday morning.
Crews had been out on Wednesday night across the county and again first thing Thursday morning on higher ground as temperatures fell to -4oC.
Staffordshire County Council has a fleet of 42 gritters, including 10 brand new ones bought last year, operating from five depots.
Fully loaded, the new vehicles weigh 18 tonnes with a capacity of six tonnes of salt in the hopper and the capacity to carry 1,200 litres of brine /molasses, which is used to help the salt stick to the road surface.
The county council can’t cover every inch of every road across the county so they operate both a primary and an extended treatment network.
Primary treatment network
It would be impossible to provide precautionary treatments across the entire road network and our priority is to firstly keep major transport and freight links clear such as A and B roads and to target routes which carry high volumes of traffic.
Extended treatment network
The extended treatment network will only be treated when prolonged freezing and/or snow conditions are expected; it will not be treated in marginal weather conditions when such extended periods of ice and snow are not expected
The council provide an interactive map that you can use to view the gritting routes and grit bin locations in your area – interactive gritting/salting map
David Williams, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Highways and Transport, said:
“We have been tracking the weather closely and planning accordingly.
“Our gritting crews were out overnight and then again twice this morning on higher ground, and they are now taking to the roads this evening and will be on standby again before dawn on Friday.
“If people are going to be on the roads tonight or early tomorrow I would ask that they take care, allow extra time for their journey and drive appropriately to the conditions.”
National Highways has advised road users intending travelling through the West Midlands today and tomorrow to check on the latest conditions before setting out, while the Met Office has yellow weather warnings in place for snow and ice in parts of the Staffordshire Moorlands and higher ground until tomorrow.
