Essex Highways gets gritters ready for the winter
The gritter service starts on Monday (October 23) as we head into the winter months
Last updated 23rd Oct 2022
Essex Highways says they're readying themselves for the winter ahead - with almost 13,000 tonnes of salt to be spread on roads throughout the county.
According to the agency, their gritters are set to travel almost 14,000 miles during the winter months to keep our roads safe - with the service launching tomorrow (October 24).
From this date, the council-run service will be keeping salt barns fully stocked and putting gritting staff on-call in case a cold snap hits.
On top of all this, it's reported gritters have already been on the roads over the past few weeks - in a move the authority say is to 'allow drivers to refresh their knowledge of all the routes we grit and learn new routes.'
Some routes have changed - under 'further optimisations' of routes... after 12 routes were reduced to 6 last year.
That means the routes are more efficient, reducing the number of gritters on the roads and reducing fuel consumption - saving an estimated £10,000 in fuel costs - or a whopping £216,000 less than in 2020.
That's the equivalent of 14 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved, according to the Council.
Councillor Lee Scott, Cabinet Member for Highways Maintenance and Sustainable Transport at Essex County Council, says; “Throughout our winter maintenance period, our gritter crews are on standby to keep the Essex road network open and safe.
"Long-range weather forecasts cannot always tell us with any reliability what sort of winter weather we may get, so being as prepared as possible for all conditions is a must.
"Last winter in Essex our gritters went out 59 times on our 59 routes, over 114,000 miles and using almost 13,000 tonnes of salt on our road network.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank our gritter team for the vital work they do to keep our road network moving safely throughout the winter months.
"The gritter drivers are the same operatives who repair potholes and jet drains, among other things, so they are very busy at this time of year.”
When they're out and about - you can track the likes of Gritty, Gritty Bang Bang, Gritendor, Frosty, Andy Flurry, Grit Notley, Gritty McGrit Face and Gritty Gordon here.
For more information on how to keep safe on the roads across Essex click here.