Gritters on standby in Hertfordshire as winter approaches

From today (October 1) Hertfordshire County Council’s fleet of 58 gritters are on standby, ready to spring into action and salt the county’s roads when freezing weather approaches.

Gritter crews and decision makers from the council's highways team will be ready around the clock to cover nearly half of Hertfordshire's entire road network – that’s more than 1,500 miles (2,500km) – to keep roads open and communities connected.

Phil Bibby, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “October is the beginning of our winter season, and we make sure our gritters are ready, our salt stocks in the depots are high and that the county’s 1,000-plus salt bins are topped up before freezing weather arrives.

"Our crews will be on standby 24 hours a day until April, ready to deal with whatever the weather throws at us.

“We don’t know how much, if any, snow and ice we’ll see this winter but, I am confident that our highways teams are ready, and we will do everything we can to keep the county’s roads open and safe, whatever the weather.”

Hertfordshire County Council send out gritters when road surface temperatures are forecast to be 0.5°c or below, and a hazard is expected.

The council will, where practical and accessible, grit roads to schools, care homes, doctor’s surgeries, key pharmacies and libraries, as well as all the county’s A and B roads, bus routes (including school bus routes), roads with a 10 per cent gradient or steeper and at least one route into every village. You can do your bit by parking sensibly and not blocking roads.

The county council also supply salt to schools if they request it, to help them stay open during icy weather.

They will also supply district, borough, parish and town councils on request, so they can use their local knowledge to identify exactly where best to use the salt during severe weather.

Community groups and residents associations can also access free gritting salt and, last year, some 230 local groups took advantage of this.

For more information about Hertfordshire County Council’s winter service programme, including the routes that they we grit, or to receive updates direct to your computer or mobile phone, click here.

This year you may see gritters travelling some route in a different direction. This is because the team have had to tweak some routes due to the continued Covid-19 social distancing measures in accordance with the latest government advice.