Q.
Can I clear the snow outside of my property?
A. Yes, you are allowed to clear the snow and ice outside
of your own property.
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Q.How do I report any
problems?
A. If you have any issues or problems concerning the
gritting of roads and highways or grit bins you can report an issue
on the highway defects for, or alternatively you can contact the
Worcestershire
HUB on 0845 607 2005.
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Q.
Which roads are gritted?
A. When there is the risk of snow or ice forming on the
roads WCC salt 2,371km of road. With limited resources and
available finance it is essential that the Primary Network is
treated first.
A Secondary Network will be treated in severe weather conditions
and only after the Primary Network has been successfully treated.
It will not be reasonably practicable to provide the service on all
roads or to ensure all surfaces are kept free of ice or snow at all
times, even on the treated parts of the network.
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Q. Why
can't WCC grit all the roads?
A. Whilst it would be great to grit all the roads in
the county it is simply not possible to do this because of cost and
the time that it would take. WCC have to make difficult decisions
about what roads they can realistically grit.
The Primary Network route is approximately 30% of the road network.
WCC will not grit private roads or drives. Motorways and Trunk
Roads (M5, M50, M42 and A46) are salted by the Highways
Agency.
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Q.
When do WCC grit?
A. WCC will normally grit the roads when the forecast
is for snow or the roads are wet and the roads surface temperature
falls below zero. Gritting takes place before frost forms on
the roads.
CC use the temperature of the road surface not the air temperature
to decide if salting is required. Sometimes on a cold morning, when
your car has a layer of frost, the roads may have retained enough
heat through the night to prevent them from freezing and no
gritting is required.
WCC may require to grit twice in a night as freezing temperatures
are predicted before and after heavy rain as this will wash the
first treatment away. It will take approximately 2.5 hours to
complete a salting route.
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Q. How
do WCC know when to grit?
A. Weather information is obtained from specialist
forecasters, roadside monitoring stations and in unpredictable
circumstances it may be supplemented by patrol inspections.
WCC maintains a contract with an appropriate forecasting
organization that provides daily weather forecasts and are updated
frequently. In addition, forecasters are available at any
time of the day or night to discuss the forecast and changes in
conditions.
Additional real-time information is provided by a network of
roadside sensor stations around the county that report on air
temperature, ground temperature, relative humidity and in some
cases provide local site forecasts.
When available forecast information is uncertain or conditions are
changing unpredictably, winter service inspectors may be mobilized
to report on conditions along pre-determined routes or at specific
points of interest.
These sources of information inform treatment decisions that are
made by the duty winter service supervisor.
Q.
What is salt?
A. WCC use rock salt on the roads to keep them free of ice
and snow. It is used prior to freezing conditions and is a brownish
colour because it is unrefined so it is often mistakenly referred
to as grit. Salt works by lowering the temperature at which water
freezes and can therefore keep a road free of ice below zero
conditions.
Salt can work at temperatures down to minus 8-10 degrees C. Below
this temperature salt becomes less efficient and roads can begin to
freeze. Grit can be used on the roads but this will be limited to
areas where snow and ice already exist on the road and a mixture of
salt and grit will provide traction to vehicles and help break up
the frozen surface.
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Q.Who is responsible for the
grit bins?
A. Grit bins will normally be provided and maintained with
stocks of salt/grit mixture where they provide a necessary
improvement to road safety and benefit to the community.
WCC can not provide a grit bin everywhere. Grit bins are located in
strategic positions around the county and are provided for use of
the public Highway only (carriageway and footway). The grit bins
are there to help road users, including pedestrians. You may use
the salt to treat ice and snow on small areas of the road or
footway.
New grit bins may be installed if the proposed location meets set
criteria. Requests for new grit bins are assessed against
pre-determined criteria, including the gradient of the road,
proximity of bends and junctions, level of traffic use, number of
premises/ residential dwellings and proximity of more vulnerable
residents.
Parish, Town and District grit bins are now being placed around the
County. These bins are coloured green and the responsibility of
filling these bins are with the local Parish, Town or District
Council.
To apply for a County grit bin to be installed please contact the
Hub on 0845 607 2005.
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Q.Are pedestrian routes
gritted?
A. WCC do not generally treat footways as priority is
always given to the road network. However, in prolonged periods of
adverse conditions footways in town centres will be treated after
the road network has been successfully treated.
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Q.
Who is in charge of gritting the roads?
A. Worcestershire county council is responsible for
providing a winter service on adopted public highways within the
county except for motorways and trunk roads.
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Q.How can I get more
information on gritting?
A. Throughout the winter period when the gritting is being
done you can find out more information on how they are doing
through many different radio stations available across the
county, some suitable radio stations are:
