Friday, 06 January 2012 10:53

When temperatures fall below freezing, East Sussex County Council’s fleet of gritters go out spreading salt to prevent ice forming on the busiest roads in the county. You can now see if they are going out tonight at www.eastsussex.gov.uk/gritting

Our Duty Manager makes the decision on whether our fleet of 25 gritters go out to salt the roads depending on the latest weather forecast and predicted road temperatures. The decision is usually made in the late afternoon or early evening.

When icy conditions are forecast the fleet of 25 gritters spread salt on more than 840 miles of the top priority roads with an extra 130 miles of secondary roads salted when snow is forecast.

As soon as the decision is made it is now uploaded to our internet site. You can also see maps of the gritting routes and get helpful advice on dealing with winter weather.

If you are on Twitter, you can follow @esccroads to get the latest information on salting, roadworks and road closures in East Sussex. You can also follow the County Council at @eastsussexcc and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/eastsussexcc

You can also get the latest news on what is happening on the roads by listening to local radio stations.

Councillor Carl Maynard, Lead Cabinet Member for Economy, Transport and Environment said: “Our gritting fleet is ready to go out on our busiest roads and make sure people can still travel to work safely and see families and friends. And now you can keep an eye on what is happening online.

“However, we can’t guarantee that treated roads will always be completely clear as it takes time for the salt to become effective, and in very cold weather even salt won’t prevent roads from icing, so I would urge anyone who does need to take to the roads in icy or snowy weather to drive appropriately for the conditions.”

Where an event such as winter weather may affect council services, you can find the latest news and advice at www.eastsussex.gov.uk/alerts - This is our central point for news about council services when they are affected by events outside our control, from bad weather, serious emergencies or strikes.