We’re ready for winter

Our gritting crews are ready to make sure the area’s roads stay open when temperatures drop this winter.

With more than 90 members of our regular Highways team on standby for on-call duties day and night, and nearly 13,000 tonnes of rock salt in store, we are well-prepared to keep vital roads open during adverse weather conditions.

These 684 miles of roads form 23 main gritting routes which are treated when road surface temperatures are expected to drop below one degree Celsius.

In addition, community routes serving smaller villages and hamlets will be treated during prolonged cold spells, so rural communities can continue to travel.

Cllr Ray Bryan, Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel, and Environment said: “Our dedicated highways crews step away from their regular roles when the temperatures fall to keep residents, businesses, and emergency services moving and as safe as possible.

“Last winter was particularly busy, so we’re hoping temperatures don’t drop so regularly this year, but whatever the coming months bring, we are ready!”

Cllr Bryan also urged caution among drivers, saying, “Conditions can change quickly, so please take care when out and about. If you find yourself behind a gritting vehicle, please be patient and take care on freshly gritted roads.”

Drive with care on freshly gritted roads

Salt (grit) needs to be dissolved into a solution to work. When we grit, we need vehicles to travel on it to ‘activate’ it. If you travel early in the morning or are the first to drive on a gritted road, please drive with care.

Even on treated roads it cannot be guaranteed there won’t be ice and rain can wash salt off the road, as well as water run-off from fields. Please take care, reduce speed, keep your distance. Remember, even if gritters have been out, roads can still be slippery.

See the Met Office advice for driving safely in winter weather

See how you can be ready for winter in Dorset

Main gritting routes

The 23 main gritting routes, collectively known as the precautionary gritting network, encompass A, B, and well-used C class roads. They also include:

• Links to hospitals, large industrial estates, transport interchanges, emergency services stations (including manned Coastguard and RNLI stations), and other critical infrastructure.
• Routes to all urban schools with more than 500 pupils and rural schools with more than 350 pupils.
• Primary bus routes with substantial frequency.
• Main routes through towns and villages with populations of more than 750.

We also carry out gritting on the A35 trunk road between Bere Regis and Charmouth on behalf of National Highways.

When and if it snows, the gritters clear and treat routes on what is known as the ‘priority ploughing network’. These key north/south and east/west routes are cleared of snow before clearing the remaining gritting network.

As the gritting crews comprise Dorset Council employees who carry out other highways maintenance roles, there may be times in particularly cold spells when more crews are needed for gritting. This may delay other regular highways work taking place.

Planning ahead

We use a route-based weather forecasting system to identify which roads need to be gritted. This enables us to grit roads only when needed. This is better for the environment, and saves money, with less salt used and fewer lorry journeys.

New vehicles

We have invested in some new gritting vehicles this year to enhance our winter preparations. These vehicles are more efficient, with modern engines that have increased fuel economy.

Stats

Winter 2022-23, saw one of the longest coldest winters for many years, with the gritting crews called into action 170 times over 148 days from 18 November to 14 April. That was double the number of call-outs in 2021/22. In total, they carried out 1,659 individual route treatments, using 5,615 tonnes of salt.

The busiest month for gritter drivers was December when they were called out on 19 days and laid 2,128 tonnes of salt.

Find out more about our approach to gritting.