Road gritting and snow clearance

Please tell us what you think about our website, we welcome your feedback.

Helping you drive safely in bad weather

• Adverse Weather Guidance 2012/2013 Adverse Weather Guidance 2012/2013 236kb
• Gritting route map Gritting route map 5mb (This is a printable document for your information)
• Online gritting routes map
• Find out information about current road conditions
• Self help for drivers

When we salt roads

Decisions are based on road temperatures, rather than air temperatures, and salting is likely whenever road temperatures are near freezing. Other factors like moisture, heat retention and time of day or night will influence the decision. Treatment by salt is normally carried out after the evening peak traffic period or before the morning rush. This is because frost and ice do not normally affect road surfaces until late evening or early morning. Usually it takes two hours to complete a salting route.

Which roads we salt

With such a large road network, it would be unrealistic and uneconomic to attempt to treat all roads. All key routes in Wiltshire will receive precautionary salting when ice is forecast. This will include all motorways, trunk roads, class A and B roads and the more important lower class roads. This should ensure the majority of road users live within a reasonable distance of a salted road. This network is under constant review and may be expanded during the current season. Please remember that the majority of minor roads will receive no treatment, and because arrangements may not always go according to plan, you should never assume a road has been salted

If temperatures are predicted to remain below freezing after the morning rush, then a larger network may be salted. This additional network includes mainly lower class roads serving housing estates and main accesses to villages and hamlets.

Should conditions persist, as much of the entire road network as possible will be salted.

Why we salt roads

Our aim is to make the county’s roads as safe as possible for road users and to reduce delays caused by bad weather. We salt key routes when there is a risk of ice. The key routes in Wiltshire total a length of 1160km (725miles) which is 25% of the entire maintained road network. Using our fleet of specialist vehicles, we provide a 24 hour response in bad weather. A single precautionary salting treatment will cost, on average, £17,000

Snow clearance

• View the County wide snow clearance routes Snow Clearance Priority Routes 5mb

In periods of prolonged snow the main snow clearing resources will be concentrated on priority routes until they have been opened sufficiently to maintain a reasonable traffic flow in both directions. Other roads are then treated in accordance with local priorities and conditions.

Ploughing will commence as soon as there is sufficient depth to plough and it is apparent that snowfall is continuing.

If heavy or continuous falls are predicted a snow emergency will be called and the Emergency Control Centre established. In this event, the county's entire fleet of gritters will be mobilised and supplemented with the council's owned snow blades and blowers that are allocated to local farmers or contractors.

Footways (to include footways, pavements, cycle routes and cycleways) will only be treated in times of persistent ice or snow. When this occurs, salting and snow clearing will be confined to those footways where there is a high pedestrian usage.

The time taken to clear footways will depend on the quantity of snow, the prevailing conditions and the available resources.

Closure of roads and police control

Signs

Wherever possible blocked roads and diversions should be properly signed. The Police will assist in controlling traffic particularly on newly opened sections of road. However, roads will not be opened to traffic until two lanes are clear.

Barriers

It is increasingly evident that snow-clearing plant can only work efficiently when other vehicles are excluded from the site of operations. On two sections of the A303 and one section of A350 gates are provided to close the road.

The expected diversionary routes are:

A303 closure between Amesbury and Mere. - A338 or A345 to Salisbury, A30 to Shaftesbury, B3095 to Mere and A303 and vice versa.

A350 closure between Longbridge Deverill and A303 - A36 Warminster to Wylye, A303 to Furze Hedge and vice versa. Follow @Wiltshirewinter

Related documents

This is a printable document for your information.

• Adverse Weather Guidance 2012/2013 Adverse Weather Guidance 2012/2013 236kb
• Gritting route map Gritting route map 5mb

Maps:

• County-wide precautionary salting routes County wide precautionary gritting route 2012/13 7mb
• North Wiltshire precautionary gritting route 2012/13 North Wiltshire precautionary gritting route 2012/13 3mb
• East Wiltshire Precautionary Salting 2012/13 Central Wiltshire precautionary gritting route 2012/13 (replaces West and East) 3mb
• South Wiltshire Precautionary Salting 2012/13 South Wiltshire precautionary gritting route 2012/13 4mb

Related links

• Met Office : West Country Weather

Last updated: 23 January 2013