Highways crews praised for hard work during weather disruption

HIGHWAYS crews in Carmarthenshire have been praised for all their hard work during some very difficult weather conditions.

Plummeting temperatures bringing snow and ice has led to disruption and hazardous driving across the county.

Council staff have been working day and night gritting the county’s roads to keep them as safe as possible for drivers.

They have also been out hand gritting town and villages and replenishing grot bins with salt for use on local roads.

Where cleansing and refuse collections have been suspended, workers have been redeployed to weather-related duties.

This includes driving 4×4 vehicles to make sure home carers can carry out their visits to older and vulnerable people.

Executive Board Member for Street Scene Cllr Colin Evans said: “Staff are on standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including Christmas and New Year, to respond to the ever changing weather and road conditions.

“We have a large fleet of specialist vehicles for use during ice and snow and we are very lucky to have highly skilled and committed drivers.

“We’ve seen this week how important this is and their hard work has helped to keep disruption to a minimum, and more importantly, to keep residents as safe as possible.

“Unfortunately, there have been some minor accidents but this is inevitable; the main thing is that there were no major incidents in the county.

“I would like to thank all the highways staff, as well as the refuse and cleansing staff, who have been out working in freezing conditions. They really do a fantastic job and are a credit to the council.”

In Carmarthenshire there are around 3,526 kilometres of road and approximately 27% are salted when weather conditions demand it.

Once the decision to salt the roads is taken, approximately 935 kilometres are treated usually within three hours.

If snow should fall, snow clearing work will come into operation across the county.