Which roads are gritted?
The Ice Prediction System allows the Duty Officer to make a more
accurate assessment of the need for salting - this results in a
reduction of the risk of failing to salt when required but also
provides a saving in costs since the number of unnecessary salting
is reduced.
The Government Highways Agency is responsible for salting all
trunk roads and motorways within the area but it would still be
prohibitively expensive to treat the entire network. Roads which
are salted are dealt with in the following priority order:
Priority 1 Routes
Priority 1 Routes are all ‘A’ Class carriageways,
and designated routes to A & E Hospitals. Then in order to
maximize efficiency and scale of economy, other classes of
carriageway which are required to be driven as part of the route,
in linking up the ‘A’ Class network, will also receive this level
of treatment. These will be as identified on the Winter Gritting
Route Plans;
Priority 2 Routes
Priority 2 Routes are other major commuter roads (‘B’ class),
major commuter/distributor roads carrying 4 service buses or more
per hour between 06.00 and 10.00am, roads serving emergency
services/public transport centres/comprehensive and secondary
schools/higher education establishments, roads with gradients
greater than 10% and carrying more than 1000v/day and main access
roads to rural communities/villages. Third party funded Public
Highways are also treated, however this will only continue for the
duration of the external funding being made available. These will
be as identified on the Winter Gritting Route Plans;
Other Carriageways
It is NOT considered practical because of resources and costs to
pre-treat all highways and Other Carriageways will not be
pre-treated. The aim is that these will only be post-treated to
remove ice or snow only after all the Priority 1 and 2 routes are
treated and open to traffic and when snow or ice is likely to
persist for a continuous period of 24 hours. This will also depend
upon available resources;
Only the above types of roads will normally be
salted; they will usually be treated within a four-hour
period, prior to the expected time of freezing.
Cycleways and Footpaths
Cycleways are salted where they form part of the 1,200 miles
(1,930 kilometres) of salted roads. Footpaths alongside
carriageways and other cycleways are not treated except where
frosty/icy conditions last for several days. Footpaths and
cycleways may then be treated when we have the capacity to do
it.
Cheshire East Council reviews its policies on winter maintenance
every year. This process includes a reappraisal of the particular
roads that justify being salted when freezing conditions are
expected.
Necessary changes in our policies are widely publicised. Copies
of the current information leaflet are available from libraries
or by contacting us.
