The county’s fleet of gritters has been out performing the first dry runs of the year as Herefordshire Council and its partners, Balfour Beatty Living Places, gear up for another winter.

Herefordshire’s gritting teams are out and about performing their ‘dry run’ procedures before winter. These trial runs are a crucial part of the preparations to ensure the county is winter-ready for the cold weather ahead.

The gritters don’t spread any salt during these runs but they are a good way to test all the equipment and systems in place, whilst also helping the drivers familiarise themselves with priority routes throughout the county.

Cllr Barry Durkin, Cabinet Member Roads and Regulatory Services, said: “We have a strong winter maintenance plan in place once again to maintain transport connections for as many local communities as possible throughout the county. As we know from previous years, challenging conditions can arise very rapidly, so whatever the weather, we encourage people to be aware of the forecasts and please always take care on our roads and pavements.”

Gritting lorries

Simon Robinson, Operations Manager for Balfour Beatty Living Places in Herefordshire said: “As part of the preparation the team have been becoming accustomed to the new weather forecast provider, constantly monitoring to ensure the Priority Routes (959km of roads) and Secondary Routes (677km of roads) will be treated when necessary. The team have also become familiarised with the newly procured Gritters, which has greatly standardised the fleet. The priority continues to keep the county moving and people safe.”

The team have been monitoring temperatures ahead of the winter season and have a fleet of 15 frontline gritters on standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, until the end of March 2025. They will be ready to grit any time of day or night to ensure roads are safe and accessible for all road users in order to keep the county moving.

Gritting dry run

To find out the latest information about gritting in your area, make sure to follow the Highways team on Facebook at ‘Herefordshire Highways’ and on Twitter @HfdsStreets.

For more information about the support and services on offer this winter, please visit our website.

Published: 31st October 2024