County Council prepared for cold weather

THE County Council is more than prepared for icy weather.

Around £1 million is set aside every year as part of its winter maintenance programme and staff are on standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The roads are salted when there is a risk of ice, and during severe weather, cleared of snow.

The aim is to make driving in Carmarthenshire as safe as possible in what can sometimes be appalling conditions.

Executive Board Member for Street Scene Cllr Colin Evans said: “We have 16,500 tonnes of salt in storage ready to grit the roads when the temperatures drop, that’s double the amount we had three years ago.

“We also have 1,050 tonnes of quarry gritstone in storage for use in extreme conditions and there are 1,100 grit bins across the county for use on local roads and pavements.

“Of course, we can never say that we will have enough salt because we do not know what the winter will bring, however, we are very well prepared.”

In Carmarthenshire there are around 3,526 kilometres of road and approximately 27% are treated when weather conditions demand it. Around 935 kilometres of roads are salted within three hours of a bad weather warning.

The first priority is given to trunk and principal routes: this includes roads leading to hospitals, ambulance stations, fire stations, railway stations, bus garages, important bus routes, slip roads, and known trouble spots.

In extreme conditions, secondary priority is given to shopping streets, known trouble and accident spots (not on the first priority routes) and other bus routes.

Cllr Evans said: “We do all we can to keep our roads safe for both pedestrians and motorists in what can sometimes be very difficult conditions.”