National Highways’ gritters preparing for latest winter cold snap

It is also reminding motorists to give gritters plenty of space and time on the road after revealing one of its vehicles was hit by another vehicle while out salt spreading earlier this winter.

Road users should also consider the following steps to keep safe on the road in terms of planning for their journey, keeping pace with the latest weather forecasts, and ensuring they carry out regular vehicle checks.

Met Office forecasters are predicting a change to cooler conditions later this weekend.

Showers from the north could fall as snow over the high ground in Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland later in the weekend, with a wintry mix of rain, hail, sleet and snow possible at the start of next week, especially over high ground.

Ice is likely to be an ongoing hazard for most from Sunday onwards. Stay up to date with the latest warnings on the Met Office website.

Darren Clark, Severe Weather Resilience Manager, at National Highways said: “We would ask all road users to take extra care when driving when our gritters are out on our road.

“Whilst gritters travel up to 50mph when spreading road users need to be aware of the road and traffic ahead of them. We have had an incident this winter where the rear of a gritter was hit. We ask all road users to give our staff time and space to do their job safely, and if you see our vehicles indicating to change lanes please do what you can to safely help us to do this.”

National Highways has road temperature and weather forecast contracts with independent meteorological experts DTN and Metdesk running from 1 October to 30 April and complement the national Met Office weather forecast, by providing a level of granularity and precision about changing road surface temperatures across our road network so they know when and where to grit.

Darren Clark said: “Not all roads will need treating on any given day. Gritters may need to go out in some regions if road temperatures fall below +1 degrees C, and if there is a risk of frost or ice forming, but not in other areas if conditions are not as cold.

“National Highways is committed to treating every road which needs to be treated - whenever it is needed. We are armed with the latest technology, forecasting intelligence and years of experience to help us make informed decisions about where and when we need to spread salt to help keep road users safe in even the most adverse weather conditions.

“For road users we suggest always check the weather forecasts, plan your journey, allowing more time for travel in wintry conditions, and carry out regular vehicle checks such as your coolant and tyre pressures.”

National Highways recently completed the assembly of its new £44m two-year investment in a fleet of 252 Volvo gritter vehicles, some of which carried out winter operations last year, and all of which are involved in salt spreading this season. The investment now means the organisation has around 530 gritter vehicles available this winter.

Vehicles in the winter gritting fleet can carry up to around 12,000 kg of salt, or 8,400 kg of salt and 3,600 litres of brine at any one time. The Volvo gritting vehicles can spread up to 50mph, encouraging traffic to keep moving more effectively on the roads even when they are being treated. When not treating they can travel up to 56mph.

Autumn and winter can bring more adverse and severe weather conditions which can affect motorists and these include fog, heavy rain, high winds and gales and ice and snow.

Along with more than 250 weather stations, that provides National Highways with real time information about localised road conditions. All of the information gathered helps to inform road users about current road conditions whatever the weather. National Highways also share information through channels including its website, third party travel providers including sat nav companies and local radio stations.

Abigail Oakes, Senior Account Manager at the Met Office, said: “We are delighted to continue our close working relationship with National Highways this autumn and winter season.

“Our staff, be that meteorologists embedded alongside the National Highways team in Birmingham during the autumn and winter, or Met Office staff working from Exeter to deliver and support throughout the year, are proud to continue this partnership, which allows for the best possible support for road users during periods of severe weather.”

A NH spokesman added: “We have invested £44m over two years replacing 252 gritters. National Highways now has around 530 gritting vehicles which can be out on our roads in sub-zero temperatures helping us to maintain our network and enhance our service to customers. This equates to one gritter for every eight miles of road. The 530 gritters includes 443 Volvo Romaquip gritting vehicles – all of which have been introduced through the replacement programme that started in 2018.

“These vehicles are based at 128 depots nationwide with a stockpile of around 280,000 tonnes of salt for the autumn and winter season. There are two new depots in this total – one at Malton, on the A64 and one at Newport on the A63, both in Yorkshire.

“National Highways has lots of advice on its website around travelling in severe weather conditions, including high winds and gales, fog, rain and snow and ice. Visit our travelling in severe weather web page.

Weather forecasts and information can be found on the Met Office website here.

Travel information can be found by visiting National Highways’ Travel updates page, and by following @highwaysnwest @highwaysneast @highwaysseast @highwaysswest @highwayseast @highwayswmids, @highwaysemids @highwaysyorks on Twitter or calling the National Highways Information Line on 0300 123 5000.