Suffolk’s gritters more prepared than ever
Some 25,000 tonnes of salt, 58 gritters, nine salt barns and over 120 staff mean that Suffolk is more prepared than ever for the icy winter months ahead.
The county’s gritting teams and community volunteers have been busily preparing for freezing temperatures and are equipped to tackle almost 3,300km of Suffolk’s roads.
This year teams are using pre-wet salt for more than half of their routes, bringing both financial and environmental benefits by using 30 per cent less salt.
On average, there are approximately 75 nights of treatments per year, with an average of 12,000 to 15,000 tonnes of salt used per season.
Councillor Guy McGregor, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for roads, transport and planning said; “Our teams use the latest weather systems to monitor road temperatures and take decisions just hours in advance, sending our gritters out if necessary.
“We are responsible for keeping traffic moving over 1,200 miles of roads, and that’s just for our priority major roads and busy commuter routes.
“Thanks to our dedicated staff, excellent resources and additional salt barns we are better placed than ever before to keep Suffolk moving in severe winter weather.”
Community volunteers also have a vital role when it comes to using locally supplied grit bins to keep residential roads, school playgrounds and pavements clear from ice and snow.
There are approximately 1,100 grit bins and 1,300 grit heaps across Suffolk spread by community volunteers.
For all the latest news see Thursday’s (November 15) Echo.
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Weather for Haverhill
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
