New 'state-of-the-art' gritters are ready to go for this Winter
There's plenty of salt reserves in stock ahead of this Winter
Highways England say the warm temperatures this year mean they have more salt than usual in their barns across the South West.
They've just invested in 37 new state-of-the-art gritters for this Winter, bringing the total in the region to almost 60 as part of a £44 million investment.
The new machines can go faster, reaching 50mph rather than the previous limit of 40mph.
In many parts of the region, the first salting runs of the season only started a few days ago and bosses says they have plenty of stock ready to be spread.
Julian Strong oversees the gritting of more than 1,000 miles of road across the South West
Service Delivery Manager Julian Strong, who heads up National Highways’ winter operations in the region, said: “We are delighted the rollout of our new state-of-the-art gritting vehicles is complete, with every machine in position and ready for the winter season ahead to help keep our road users safer on the roads, whatever weather conditions we face.
“National Highways always strives to explore and embrace innovation to benefit our road users. These vehicles are environmentally friendly, have cutting-edge technological features and can treat road surfaces at a higher speed than older models.
“We now have a total of 59 vehicles ready to be deployed across South West and all of them will play their part in helping our autumn and winter operations team, including our drivers, to carry out their vital work over the next few months to treat the road surfaces whenever and wherever it is needed.”
Across the South West there are 19 winter maintenance depots and 59 gritters and two snow blowers treating a total of almost 1,047 miles of trunk roads and motorways.
There are more than 120 qualified winter drivers operating the fleet across the region and last year, from 1 October 2021 to April 2022, the gritters travelled more than 147,000 miles across the South West.
Each gritter can hold 10 cubic metres of salt and all routes are designed to be treated within two hours.
In addition, the region has 38 weather stations that provide real time information about localised road conditions, enabling staff to identify the best time to send the gritters out, working closely with National Highways’ traffic officers, contractors and the emergency services.