Warming up for Winter! | Buckinghamshire Council

This acquainted annual occasion, referred to as the Winter Parade, ensures the fleet is prepared for winter. Every 12 months, the gritters are taken for a check drive of their traditional gritting routes, to assist the gritter drivers re-familiarise themselves with the autos and the routes, in addition to testing the security of the routes.

From October to March, the groups are on standby round the clock, able to sort out plunging temperatures when mandatory. This ensures Buckinghamshire’s most frequented roads and precedence routes are handled, retaining site visitors flowing and roads safer from the affect of winter circumstances.

Approximately 44 p.c of the county’s highways community (870 miles) is categorised as a major route, a big quantity greater than different native authority areas. These precedence routes are gritted when street floor temperatures – which may be as much as 5°C cooler than the air temperature – are predicted to drop beneath 0.5°C. These temperatures are decrease than the air temperatures seen on climate apps and climate forecasts – so gritting will occur even when the air temperatures are predicted to remain above freezing.

Last winter 65 gritting runs had been accomplished protecting 54,119 miles, which means the fleet of gritters coated a higher distance than travelling across the Earth’s equator twice!

Following the parade, the winter fleet are parked up on the 4 depots throughout Buckinghamshire to attend for the primary salting of the season. Whilst snow is probably not on the foreseeable forecast, an early sighting of Buckinghamshire’s gritters is a certain signal that winter is coming, and the county is being ready for regardless of the climate could have in retailer.

Thomas Broom, Cabinet Member for Transport, commented:

“I’m sure the public will be pleased to spot the new orange gritting fleet take to the roads of Buckinghamshire, and I urge you all to give the drivers a wave if you see them.”

“Winter driving can be hazardous at times, even when roads are well gritted. Please remember that grit is not a failsafe and just because a road has been gritted this doesn’t mean it won’t still be icy. Road users should drive according to the road conditions and the weather, taking extra care where necessary.”

Thomas added: “Thank you in advance to our expert drivers and winter crews, who are now set to be on call 24 hours a day for the next six months, even over Christmas. They carry out an extremely important job in helping to keep our roads safe over the winter.”

For regular gritting updates, follow @BucksHighways on Facebook and @Bucks_Highways on X.

To discover out extra about how the council decides when to grit roads, the routes the gritters observe and how one can monitor the place the gritting machines are, go to: www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/winter-roads