With snow and ice forecast for the coming week, Hampshire’s highways teams will be out through the night making sure Hampshire’s main roads are salted ahead of the morning rush hour.
Salting lorries across Hampshire will be treating priority one routes which carry the majority of traffic of Hampshire and include A roads, some B roads, major bus routes, roads to emergency services, large schools and public transport areas. Priority two routes, which include the remaining B roads and single access roads to villages have been treated earlier today, and Community routes which include roads to smaller schools, GP surgeries and local shops will be treated early in the morning.
Councillor Seán Woodward, Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment at Hampshire County Council, said: “If the forecast is correct, Hampshire is in for a cold week and our highways teams are preparing for some busy nights. We have a good stock of salt in the barns across Hampshire, and teams will be out making sure routes are salted in time for everyone to get to work and school this week.”
“I would, however, ask residents to take particular care if they are setting off early to work tomorrow as it seems that temperatures are set to drop overnight. Even if we don’t see much snow, we can expect ice to form and so I would urge people to drive according to the conditions at all times.”
Weather forecasts, road and air temperatures are monitored 24 hours a day seven days a week from October to April. So far this winter, the County Council has used 5,000 tonnes of salt. It can take approximately three hours to treat a Priority One route.
Taking extra care during cold weather is important for everyone, but particularly important for people who are more vulnerable to suffering ill health due to the cold, such as babies and very young children (under 5 years), older people (75+ years), people with pre-existing medical conditions such as heart conditions, circulatory disease, asthma, COPD, depression, anxiety, diabetes or arthritis.
The County Council is asking people to keep a neighbourly eye on older and vulnerable residents living near to them. This is especially important in rural communities where not everyone has access to mains gas and communications can be affected. Any concerns about a neighbour can be reported by calling 0300 555 1386
Practical help or advice on keeping your home warm, is available from Hampshire County Council’s Hitting the Cold Spots Project Helpline on 0800 804 8601
Members of the public can also get live updates of when and where road salting is taking place by following the Hampshire County Council’s twitter feed: @hantsconnect or @hantshighways
Please drive according the conditions. Further advice is available online.
See the information on winter maintenance
