New barn boosts county’s winter salt stock

A NEW salt barn in Cross Hands has increased the county’s stock in the event of any winter weather this year.

Construction of the new barn, which has been built alongside the existing barn in Cross Hands, was completed earlier this year.

Now fully operational, the barn has a storage capacity of 2,500 tonnes – increasing the county’s salt stock holding to 14,500 tonnes.

This additional resource has ensured the council achieves the Welsh Government’s resilience target of 14,500 tonnes of salt required to treat its primary gritting routes.

Salt is crucial to the winter service operation, both in terms of treating the roads to stop ice forming and in snow conditions to try and remove snow from the road surface.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s executive board for Technical Services Cllr Colin Evans said: “The council aims to provide a Winter Maintenance Service which, as far as is reasonably practical, will permit the safe movement of traffic on the strategically important sections of the highway network and keep to a minimum delays and accidents due to adverse weather conditions.

“This new barn and its additional storage capacity will greatly assist the council in providing an effective and efficient winter maintenance service.”

To see a map of the priority gritting routes in the county, go to ilocal and click on Travel, Roads and Parking and then select Gritting Routes.