Gritting ready for winter

With winter weather well upon us, Cumbria County Council says its fleet of gritters is ready to keep traffic flowing on the county's roads.

A budget of nearly £3.7million has been earmarked to this year's winter maintenance programme that will see around 1,500 miles of highway regularly gritted when freezing temperatures are forecast.

In addition to 33 gritters the council has 24,000 tonnes of salt stockpiled around the county and teams on standby to treat roads around the clock.

Priority one routes, which include many main roads across the county, are treated in less than three hours during freezing conditions while priority two routes, including A, B and C roads, are treated in five hours.

In addition to its fleet of gritters, the council continues to work in partnership with a number of community groups in Cumbria to enable local minor roads to be treated and ploughed as necessary.

The council can also call on the help of more than 150 volunteers, known as Snow Champions, who keep local footways and footpaths clear of snow. Anyone interested in becoming a Snow Champion can call 0845 609 6609.

Members of the public can keep track of the council’s daily gritting plans for the road network this winter via the council’s website at www.cumbria.gov.uk/gritting and through our dedicated Twitter account, @CumbriaGritters