A Guide to the Winter Service in County Durham

Winter Maintenance Policy

The County Council's policy is to provide an efficient winter maintenance service, which will permit the safe movement of traffic throughout the County and keep delays to a minimum on the treated network.

This policy is in line with the principles laid down in the national code of practice "Delivering Best Value in Highways Maintenance".

Winter Service 2007/2008

Durham County Council currently pre-salts 42% of the County's 3,667kms of roads. The expected cost of providing this service is about £2.35 million per year.

What are Pre-Salting, Post-Salting and Snow Clearing

Pre-salting is the application of rock salt to carriageways to prevent frost and ice forming on the road surface. Pre-salting is carried out in advance of frosty conditions and it is dependant on:

• Road surface temperature.
• Dampness of the road surface.
• Air temperature and humidity.

Post-salting is the application of rock salt to carriageways to melt ice and snow which has already formed.

Snow clearing is the removal of significant accumulations of snow from carriageways by the use of snow ploughs, snow blowers, other heavy machinery and manual labour.

It should be noted that pre-salting, post-salting and snow clearing are not carried out on all roads.

The A1(m), A66 and the A19 within the County are salted and cleared by contractors on behalf of the Highways Agency. Contact details for these contractors are as follows

• A1(m) and A66 - Call A-One, Darlington tel: 01325 389991
• A19 - Call Autolink Concessionaries, Billingham tel:01642 560538

Forecasting Snow And Ice

The Met Office provides us with four weather forecasts each day, which include road surface temperature information.

These weather forecasts form part of our Ice Prediction system, which uses eleven remote weather stations located throughout the county, providing atmospheric and road surface temperature information.

This information along with the weather forecasts is used to aid our decision making process.

The Salting Operation

Once the decision has been taken, our fleet of gritters are deployed to spread salt on the pre-salt network.
Salt is used as the de-icing agent because it is the most cost-effective means of treatment. In general no treatment will take place between 2300hrs and 0500hrs. Footways subject to normal overnight frosty conditions will not be treated, however during long periods of frosty weather and when resources permit, footways in main shopping areas and busy urban areas may be treated.

Snow

The aim during and after major snowstorms is to maintain and/or restore road communications for industrial traffic and journeys to work by public transport. This is done by effectively ceasing work on all non-essential roads until communications are restored. Snow clearing and post salting will only take place on lower priority roads once the main communications network have been cleared and resources become available. This may take place some time after the initial snowstorm ocurred.

Severe Weather

Although we endeavour to provide a complete service on the treated network, sometimes due to freak weather conditions, we can be caught out.

We will, where possible try to respond as quickly as possible in areas where this has occurred but ice is very much more difficult to remove once it has been formed

What Can You Do?

Please remember that driving in Winter is more difficult and that in severe weather conditions the physical and mental demands are greater.