TfB – Ready for winter
With the weather starting to get colder, Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB) is now carrying out final preparations in readiness for the winter season.
The fleet of gritters has been serviced; the salt barns are fully stocked and TfB are ready to go!
Our gritters have access to 10,500 tonnes of salt, which is held in our salt barns located across the county. Each full precautionary gritting run, which covers 1,405 km (44%) of the road network, uses approximately 80 tonnes of salt. The salt was ordered back in the summer to ensure TfB maximised the advantages of salt availability and protection from expected price increases.
The army of 25 gritters can be tracked, by name, online.You can see ‘Mitten’, ‘Mr Sprinkle’ and ‘Lambourgritti’ as well as the rest of the fleet as they carry out their duties across the county in real time.
TfB makes gritting decisions daily, using information communicated from local weather stations and specialist weather forecasting providers. Information consists of predicted weather conditions and road surface temperatures. Crews will be mobilised to carry out precautionary salting runs when the information received predicts the risk of ice forming. Many other facts are daily taken into consideration which may result in variable degrees of gritting across the county.
Once a decision has been made about whether or not to treat the roads, TfB will update its website daily, and useTwitter- on @tfbalerts – to keep people informed.
Mark Shaw, Buckinghamshire County Council Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “Keeping our roads safe is important at all times of the year, but especially when weather conditions are against us. Having the right equipment, fully trained staff and fully stocked salt barns will help keep our roads safe this winter.”
Full information on our winter service, including advice on travelling safely during winter, can be found on our website – http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/transport/were-working-on-it/winter-maintenance/