March 22, 2013 5.20 pm This story is over 138 months old

Lincolnshire gritters used record levels of salt this winter

Long winter: Lincolnshire County Council’s gritting team has used an unprecedented level of salt this winter to treat the county’s roads.

Lincolnshire County Council’s gritting team has used an unprecedented level of salt this winter to treat the county’s roads.

The 43 gritters crew has been out on 128 runs so far this year, gritting all A and B roads in Lincolnshire, which equates to 1,869 miles of roads.

So far in March, the gritters have been out on 15 runs, and the average number of runs they usually do in March is 8.

They used 37,730 tonnes of imported Egyptian salt so far, beating the previous record of 33,973 tonnes in the winter of 2009/10.

The council replenished its salt stocks with an 18,000 tonnes delivery last week, and currently has 32,166 tonnes in stock.

The latest Lincolnshire gritters have ever salted was in 2009/10 and that was until April 14.

Councillor William Webb, Executive Member for Highways and Transportation, said:
“We have had a prolonged and cold winter, and these figures underline the challenge that we have faced as a county council.

“We took a conscious decision last year to increase our stock of salt to 35,000 tonnes and also invested in 12 new gritters to make sure that we were fully prepared for winter.

“In a single gritting run we will treat all A and B roads, which works out as nearly 2,000 miles of road – one third of the entire network of Lincolnshire.

“I have huge admiration for our winter maintenance teams and would like to pass on my sincere gratitude to them,” Councillor Webb added.

More snow coming

Between 5 and 10 centimetres of snow are expected across Lincolnshire on Saturday, and Met Office forecasts indicate temperatures will struggle to rise above 2°C this weekend, but it will feel much colder due to winds of up to 40mph.

The County Council gritters team monitors the weather 24/7 and will be out treating the roads throughout the weekend.