Praise for work to clear snow from county roads

Dozens of gritter drivers, farmers and contractors have been praised for their efforts to keep the county’s roads clear during the current spell of wintry weather.

Since last Wednesday (20 March 2013) Shropshire Council’s 25 gritting lorries – and their drivers – have spread around 4000 tonnes of salt on more than 950 miles of roads – including the county’s A and B roads, important access routes, and high-risk routes such as those close to schools and hospitals – plus major town centre shopping areas, and heavily-used pavements and cycle paths.

At the same time, more than 100 farmers and contractors across the county have deployed tractor-mounted snowploughs – 25 of which also have tractor-mounted gritters – and 12 snowblowers, to clear snow from the county’s roads.

Snow over 50mm deep is removed by ploughing with A and B roads and localised high-risk sections of other roads ploughed first. At least one main access route to towns and large villages is cleared as soon as possible, with snow blowers deployed to remove heavy snowfall.

Since last Friday (22 March 2013) gritting and snow ploughing has been taking place 24 hours a day.

Chris Edwards, Shropshire Council’s area commissioner with responsibility for highways, said:

“Keeping Shropshire moving during a cold snap is a full-time job and there is a dedicated team of people working, often unnoticed and often through the night and around the clock, to help keep the county’s roads open.

“I want to pay tribute to our gritter drivers, and to the farmers and other contractors, who have played such a crucial role in keeping our roads open and traffic moving during the current spell of wintry weather, and every time the county is hit by ice or snow.”

Mark Pembleton, Shropshire Council’s service manager for business and enterprise, said:

“The council especially wants to thank the scores of farmers who have cleared snow and turned their tractors into snow ploughs.  They have done an amazing job in very extreme conditions and have made sure that even the smallest roads have been kept open.  So, as well as being a key part of our economy, they have also worked to keep the whole economy moving.  They have acted as the fifth emergency service and we could not have coped without them over these past few days.”

So far this winter Shropshire Council has used around 15,000 tonnes of salt on the county’s roads and pavements.  It has 10,000 tonnes left, with 2,200 tonnes on order.