With the nights drawing in and temperatures starting to drop, County Durham is getting ready to take on the winter.

Durham County Council has a fleet of 76 gritters and snowblowers on standby for when the weather gets cold.

All Durham’s 40 power gritters are fitted with 360-degree cameras to enhance safety and provide data on weather conditions.

The council also has 42,000 tonnes of salt ready to deal with ice and snow. More than 2,380 salt bins are located at various points around County Durham.

The county’s 1,700 kilometres of ‘priority one’ roads – meaning most A and B roads – will be treated regularly during the winter weather. Such routes make up around 45% of the county’s road network.

County Durham’s more minor ‘priority two’ roads will be treated during spells of prolonged and severe wintery weather as resources permit.

Durham County Council’s highways services manager, Mark Readman, said, “With the weather now turning cold, it’s important that we are ready for icy conditions on roads and footpaths.”

“Preparations for colder weather have been underway for some time, but our winter maintenance programme for 2019/20 is now fully up and running.”

You can stay up-to-date with the wintery weather conditions and Durham County Council’s response to them by following @DurhamCouncil and the hashtag #TwitterGritterNE on Twitter.

You can also like/follow @durhamcouncil on Facebook.

If you would like to track gritters, see footage from the gritters’ cameras, see priority gritting routes and find out which roads have been affected by bad weather conditions, you can go to http://www.durham.gov.uk/winterinfo.

To learn where your closest salt bin is, or to ask for it to be refilled, please go to http://www.durham.gov.uk/saltbins or telephone 03000 260 000.

(This article’s featured image shows Durham County Council’s Winter Maintenance Team.)


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DavidSunderland
David writes about local news, thought provoking stories, and yearns to capture the community spirit with a unique writing style.

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