Home Local News Gritting teams are working around the clock

Gritting teams are working around the clock

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Lancashire County Council’s gritting teams are continuing to work around the clock to keep the county moving.

All the priority routes were treated a number of times on Tuesday to deal with snow and wintry showers, and crews worked through the night to deal with ice as temperatures fell below zero.

The gritters have been busy again this morning (Wednesday) treating the second priority routes which are only gritted when snow has fallen and the main routes have already been cleared. The secondary routes mostly cover roads in urban areas which are gritted when possible to improve access during continuous ice and snow.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for ice from 6pm tonight to 11am on Thursday morning. Ice could form on untreated routes or where further wintry showers fall onto frozen surfaces during the night and on Thursday morning. Showers will be a mix of rain, sleet and snow, with higher routes being most affected.

Lancashire’s gritters will be out again treating all the main routes this evening.

County Councillor Keith Iddon, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Our gritting crews have been very busy over recent days, and the last 24 hours in particular.

“The main routes were treated a number of times yesterday and overnight, but we know conditions were still difficult in places due to the continuous wintry showers, and on roads which are not treated as a priority.

“We do everything we can to keep traffic moving on priority roads and we are open about the fact we cannot grit every road in Lancashire. Even if we had the resources needed we couldn’t grit them quickly enough to make a real difference.

“No council does this and its important people understand there are limitations to the service we can provide. Even roads which have been gritted can remain icy and everyone needs to drive according to the conditions. We’d ask people to allow extra time for their journey and be extra careful even on treated roads.

“We’re treating the second priority routes today, and the main routes again this evening. I’d also remind everyone to think about how they park to make sure there’s room for a gritter to get past.”

Lancashire County Council has a fleet of 45 frontline gritters which can treat the 1,500 miles of the county council’s priority road network within around four hours, but may take longer in severe conditions.

For more information about gritting in Lancashire, and what you can do to prepare for winter, visit www.lancashire.gov.uk/winter, follow us on Twitter for news and updates at www.twitter.com/lancashirecc or Facebook www.facebook.com/lancashirecc.

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