The Highways Agency is to further reduce its salt usage as a measure to conserve salt stocks and help manage supplies in order to help keep the country running during the continuing winter weather period.
This reduction is in addition to a 25% reduction in salt usage which came into effect last week. The prolonged period of wintery weather continues to put pressure on salt stocks. Therefore we are taking a number of measures to reduce salt usage including a reduction in our treatment rates when ploughing snow, and not directly treating motorway hard shoulders.
Derek Turner, Network Operations Director at the Highways Agency, said: “We are now experiencing the most prolonged spell of severe weather since December 1981, more prolonged than last February, which was the worst winter in 18 years. We will be reducing our salt usage further, following a wholesale revision of our detailed treatment regime. This includes reducing treatment rates when ploughing snow by 50%, along with measures previously announced, including not directly treating the hard shoulder.
“The measures we are taking reflect the need to conserve salt stocks to improve our resilience to handle any further deterioration in the weather both locally and nationally.
“We do not take actions such as this lightly and safety of road users remains our highest priority. The Highways Agency is managing salt stocks carefully and working with Met Office forecasters at the National Traffic Control Centre in Birmingham, to continue to provide a robust winter service across the strategic road network and wherever possible keep motorways and trunk roads open and in a safe condition through the current period of severe weather.”
To make best use of our salt supplies we are no longer directly treating motorway hard shoulders where our salt spreaders can be adjusted to treat running lanes only. We will of course continue to treat the hard shoulder where it is used as a running lane on sections of managed motorway on the M6 and M42 as well as where the hard shoulder is used as a running lane through road works.
