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More salt on way as gritting continues

The salting will go on... that’s the message from Lincolnshire County Council as they reassure residents that more stocks are on the way.

Highways gritting teams have been working around the clock since the severe weather started in the middle of December, helping to keep traffic flowing on main routes around the county.  Now, with the forecast warning of continuing cold temperatures dropping to below minus 6 degrees Celsius with further snow, the county council says its full fleet of 43 hi-tech gritters are ready to continue covering 3082km (1915 miles) of Lincolnshire’s roads.

Paul Coathup, Assistant Director for Highways & Traffic, said:

“Lincolnshire’s salt stocks are in a fairly good position compared to some authorities and we have more shipments of salt of around 16,000 tonnes due to be delivered over the next few weeks.

“Whilst we have a reasonable supply at present, we are not being complacent and are continuing to monitor our operations on a daily basis.  We need to ensure that we have the capability to continue providing an adequate winter service through this ongoing period of cold weather and this will mean that we will have to be particularly careful in our salt usage until our new stocks arrive.  This includes the use of grit rather than salt on secondary routes, footpaths and for refilling grit bins, as resources become available.

“The public are reminded that, during this level of cold and when temperatures fall below minus 6 degrees Celsius, salt reduces in its effectiveness, so extra care will be needed when driving or walking.”

Lincolnshire’s gritters have treated the network of 43 routes over 60 times so far this winter season and spread over 16,000 tonnes of salt.  During the recent festive season, the roads were treated twice daily, a pattern which has continued to date.

The Highway Authority is aware of the increasing deterioration to some road surfaces but other than effecting emergency repairs will not be able to respond until after the end of the bad weather.

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