21/7/2009 - New rock salt to fight winter weather on Cumbria's roads : Cumbria County Council

The battle against winter weather will be fought by Cumbria Highways with a new trial weapon in its armoury and an extended gritting programme.

Now we’re in the middle of summer, winter is far from peoples’ thoughts but the county is planning ahead and preparing for the onset of plunging temperatures, frost, ice and snow.

At its meeting in Carlisle today (July 21) Cumbria County Council’s cabinet approved changes to the 2009/10 winter maintenance scheme including a trial using a rock salt that sticks to the road surface for longer and reduces corrosion.

And additional lengths of untreated roads –the C1036 Hutton in the Forest to Durdar crossroads, Carlisle, the C5052 Penny Bridge to Hawkshead and a short length of the village road at Thursby - will now be gritted after being added to the list of second priority routes.

Pavements in the main shopping areas of towns across the county are also going to be treated more quickly in the event of cold weather and given the same status as priority two roads –which are gritted within around five hours of work getting underway.

The rock salt trial will see additives –an agricultural by-product called molasses –added to rock salt which makes the salt stick to the road for longer, therefore reducing the number of treatments needed. This will mean fewer gritting runs are necessary leading to a reduced carbon footprint from gritting vehicles.

During the trial, the use of the rock salt with additives will be carefully monitored and used on one gritting route from one depot to ensure the results are as accurate as possible.

All salt heaps and salt bins around the county will also be replenished before the winter.

Councillor Tony Markley, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for highways, said: "Last winter was one of the coldest we’ve experienced in this county for many years and while our maintenance programme was a good match for the conditions, we identified a need for an improved pavement gritting programme and to include more roads on our list of priority routes.

"These improvements to our programme, as well as the rock salt trial are good news for the people of Cumbria and mean we’ll be even better prepared in future for keeping the county moving when the cold weather bites."

Cumbria Highways is the partnership between Cumbria County Council, Capita Symonds and Amey that improves and maintains the county’s roads.

Cumbria Highways grits a core network of around 1,200 miles of priority routes across Cumbria as part of its winter maintenance programme. Priority routes are selected to maintain transport connections for as many communities as possible, with priority one roads being gritted within three hours of work getting underway and priority two roads within five hours.

Self-help salt heaps and grit bins are provided around the county on routes that are not routinely treated.

The cabinet paper related to this press release can be found at http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/CouncilMeetings/Content/Public/2941/40007162133.pdf

For more information about Cumbria’s winter maintenance programme visit http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/roads-transport/highways-pavements/highway-maintenance/wintermaintenance/roadswinter.asp

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