THE County Council’s gritting teams have been out on the roads preparing for the cold weather due this weekend.
Last night (Thursday) teams were out from 11pm, gritting primary roads as road temperatures dropped to -1c.
After a day of rain, arctic air rolled in and temperatures fell below freezing, meaning a full road grit was necessary.
Gritters then returned to base to refill and headed to secondary roads to grit, working through the night until the early hours.
More cold and icy weather is forecast for the weekend and the highways teams will be carrying out full gritting tonight from 6pm, on primary roads.
Road temperatures are expected to fall to 3c overnight with a cold and foggy morning to follow.
Over the summer months, various highways depots that cover the county were re-stocked with more than 14,000 tonnes of salt, which includes a 5,000 tonne reserve in case of an unusually harsh winter.
The Worcestershire Highways fleet of 32 gritting vehicles and the teams that drive them, cover the county’s 1,000 miles of designated roads.
Last winter, the teams clocked up more than 50,000 miles – the equivalent of more than twice around the world.
The Council has also checked the county’s 1,320 grit bins to ensure they are full.
The grit bins are available across the county of Worcestershire and maintained with stocks of a salt/grit mixture.
They are provided for use on the public highway only (including footways).
Jon Fraser of from County Highways said; “We encourage drivers to always drive safely and carefully in adverse weather conditions, slow down and allow extra time for journeys, even when roads have been treated.”
