Council Leader visits winter maintenance teams

COUNCIL Leader Kevin Madge has been visiting winter maintenance teams across the county as temperatures start to fall.

Gritting lorries have already been out treating main routes to keep them as safe as possible for drivers.

He was accompanied to the salt barn at the Cillefwr depot in Carmarthen by Cllr Colin Evans, Executive Board Member for Technical Services.

They spoke to some of the highways crews who can be working around the clock during adverse weather conditions.

Cllr Madge said: “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.

“During severe ice and snow, winter maintenance staff often have to work late into the night and very early in the morning; it can be an extremely busy time with all hands on deck.

“We don’t know what kind of winter we will have but I know that whatever the weather crews will be working hard to keep residents safe and the county moving.”

Of the 3,526 kilometres of road in Carmarthenshire, around a third is salted when weather conditions demand it.

Approximately 1023 kilometres of county roads are gritted usually within three hours of a bad weather warning; and if snow should fall, snow clearing work comes into operation across the county.

Roads are gritted according to priority and the first to be treated are trunk roads and principal routes including roads leading to hospitals, ambulance stations, fire stations, railway stations and bus garages, important bus routes, slip roads, and known trouble spots.

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

Executive Board Member for Technical Services Cllr Colin Evans said: “It was important to visit the depot to see the crews and let them know that we appreciate all their hard work.

“We have 16,500 tonnes of salt in storage ready to grit the roads when temperatures drop, that’s double the amount we had four years ago. We can never say we have enough because we do not know what the winter will bring but I can say that we are very well prepared.”