Highway Winter Service Policy
Policy for Highway Winter Service 2008/09
Contents:
1. General Requirements
1.1 North East Lincolnshire Council, as the Highway Authority, is under a statutory duty to maintain the highway. In order to facilitate safe movement, as far as reasonably practicable, during bad weather, the Council will undertake prioritised pre-treatment ("precautionary" salting) and, subject to available resources, snow clearing operations.
1.2 It is important that the travelling public experience a consistent level of service throughout the region. Therefore, the Council will maintain close liaison with neighbouring authorities on its winter service activities and aim to achieve a continuity of treatment across authority boundaries.
1.3 For precautionary salting purposes the Council will, during the winter service season, operate a system capable of providing the stated standard of service. Snow clearing operations will be carried out as conditions dictate and resources allow.
1.4 Direct lines of communication will be established with the weather forecast provider, police, media, emergency services, Highways Agency, adjacent highway authorities, public transport operators and motoring organisations to provide information on current road conditions.
1.5 The Council take their winter service operations extremely seriously but it is important to recognise that there is a heavy commitment involved in keeping major highways and other important routes safe and therefore it is necessary to prioritise.
1.6 For the purposes of winter service delivery, the Council will be represented on a day to day basis by the Head of Highways and Transport and his nominated representatives.
1.7 In order to ensure that the Council's resources are being deployed in the most economic, efficient and effective way, winter service operations must be planned in a systematic manner. For this reason routes have been categorised in order to assign priorities for treatment. Advice from the Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance Management, published by the Institute of Highways and Transportation (July 2005), has been used in the development of this policy.
1.8 Whenever hazardous conditions are known to exist all available resources will be deployed, having regard for the need to ensure continuity of resources in protracted periods of severe weather. The Head of Highways and Transport will exercise discretion on a case by case basis taking into account the policy and all other relevant considerations in order that the Council may fulfil its statutory obligations.
1.9 It is also important that the general public is aware of and fully understands the Council's approach to highway winter service. Publicity is given before the start of the winter service season by issuing press adverts describing the level of service provision.
1.10 The Winter Service Plan, incorporating the Policy and Operational Plan, will be reviewed annually and submitted for approval by elected Members.
2.0 Network Hierarchy
2.1 The categorising of routes to receive the stated level of highway winter service is primarily based upon the amount and character of traffic that would normally be expected to use the route. This has regard to the wider objectives for transport integration and network management, including strategies for public transport, walking and cycling.
2.2 Qualifying Criteria used for Main Routes (Category 1 & 2):
Category 1: Primary routes, principal roads, important bus and commuter routes, roads leading to hospitals, ambulance stations, fire stations.
Category 2: Roads leading to important industrial and military establishments, highways serving shopping centres, slip roads, approaches to interchanges.
2.3 Qualifying Criteria used for Secondary Routes (Category 3):
These are areas where loss of control due to winter conditions may lead to more serious problems.
(i) A route which is on a relatively steep hill
(ii) A route which for a significant length, is adjacent to a deep drainage ditch, river or the like
(iii) Main access roads within residential estates
(Routes in (i) & (ii) above to be treated between the nearest "give way" markings or other priority junction, controlling that route, before and beyond the hazard.)
2.4 Category 4 Routes: Remainder of roads on the adopted highway network not included in Categories 1-3 in the following order of priority:
- main urban areas (Grimsby, Cleethorpes & Immingham)
- villages
- other rural roads
2.5 Category 5: Footways and cycleways on the adopted highway network in the following order of priority. Combined footway / cycleways will be treated in accordance with the footway hierarchy:-
1. PRIORITY 1 FOOTWAYS - Hierarchy 1 footways, and important links in town and local centre areas, and transport interchanges (e.g. Station Approach, Grimsby).
2. Other hierarchy 1 and 2 footways.
3. Hierarchy 3 footways with gradients greater than 1 in 10 longitudinally for longer than 50 metres.
4. Other trouble spots identified on the footway / cycleway network, in response to specific circumstances.
3.0 WINTER SERVICE Season
3.1 The winter service season is the period from the 1st October to the 30th April inclusive. Three winter service periods are defined for normal operational purposes:-
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a) High Period |
December, January and February
When severe conditions might reasonably be expected; |
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b) Low Period |
November and March
When severe conditions may occasionally occur; |
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c) Marginal Period |
October and April
When severe conditions are generally not expected; |
4.0 Weather Forecast Service and Ice Prediction System
4.1 Throughout the winter service season, the Council will receive weather forecast information for the local area. This is currently provided by the Meteorological Office "Open Road" Weather Forecasting Service.
4.2 The Council also operates an Ice Prediction system installed by Vaisala TMI Limited, Birmingham. The system employs instruments, located at a single site in North East Lincolnshire, to monitor the road surface state conditions and provide information that forms the basis for "site specific" forecasts by the Meteorological Office.
4.3 This system also gives access to information for sites in North Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire, all connected via the Vaisala Central Bureau and modem link to a computer terminal in the Council offices. A portable computer terminal with modem connection will be used by the Duty Officer to access the system outside normal office hours.
Definition of Severe Weather conditions:
- Persistent widespread ice(rather than frost) or snow for more than 18 hours in a 24 hour period and a forecast not to rise above zero for a further 18 hours in the next 24 hours
- A forecast with a high confidence of significant snowfall resulting in accumulations of 5cms (lesser accumulations for footways) or more, or where drifting is expected to occur and conditions are forecast to persist for at least 24 hours
Definition of Extreme Weather conditions:
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Continuous prolonged freezing conditions which restrict the natural dissipation of snow
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High winds causing drifting
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Heavy snowfall in excess of 150m
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High proportion of roads blocked
5.0 Pre-Treatment
5.1 Precautionary salting will be carried out when the likelihood of ice or snow is forecast. Priority will be given to defined routes (Category 1 & 2). During the period from the 1st November to the 31st March, or until such date as decided by the Head of Technical Services, precautionary salting will, in normal working hours, be controlled by the Head of Highways and Transport nominated representative (Duty Officer) working from the Council offices. For the week day period outside normal working hours, and at weekends, the Duty Officer will be on standby, working from home, using the facilities identified in 4.3 above.
5.2 Normally during October and April, precautionary salting will be controlled by the Duty Officer, and be determined by the prevailing conditions identified using the information made available as described in 4.2 above.
5.3 The Response Time, the period between instruction to commence treatment being issued to the Highway Maintenance (Operational) team by the Duty Officer, and vehicles leaving the operational centre, will be one hour. This period may exceed one hour in the event of an early instruction by the Duty Officer, and at his discretion.
5.4 The Treatment Time, the period between vehicles leaving the operational centre and the completion of precautionary salting on all main routes, will normally be 3 hours. However, it should be recognised that treatment times may vary in severe weather or heavy traffic conditions.
5.5 Other routes will only be treated after the main routes have been treated, having regard to available resources and the prevailing conditions.
6.0 Snow Clearing
6.1 For the purpose of this service, there are three stages for snow clearing:-
6.2 In Stage 1 and 2 conditions, snow clearing operations may be undertaken subject to available resources. These operations will be controlled by the Duty Officer during normal working hours, working from the Council offices. For the week day period outside normal working hours, and at weekends, the Duty Officer will control snow clearing operations from home.
6.3 In Stage 3 conditions, the Head of Highways and Transport may set up an emergency control team and arrange staffing on a rota basis. In extreme conditions this may include a shift system for manning a control room at weekends and, exceptionally, overnight.
6.4 The start of snow clearing operations will aim to commence within 1 hour of the instruction being issued by the Duty Officer. During snow clearing operations priority will normally be given to the Strategic Routes (Category 1 Primary and main principal roads - see Appendix A), followed by other routes in priority order commencing with the remainder of the Category 1 routes.
6.5 During severe weather conditions, snow clearing operations on footways and cycleways may be undertaken during normal working hours, as prevailing conditions and resources permit, after treatment of higher priority routes.
7.0 Post-Treatment
7.1 Post-treatment ("reactive" salting) may be carried out, subject to available resources and at the discretion of the Head of Highways and Transport , on any category of route in the event that there is a clear potential for danger caused by the formation of ice on the highway. Priority will be given in network hierarchy order as defined in paragraph 2.0 above.
8.0 Treatment of Cycle Lanes and Cycle Tracks
8.1 Cycle lanes on the main routes will be treated at the same time as those roads. Cycle lanes on lower priority routes will be treated at the same priority as those routes. During severe weather cycle tracks off the road network may be treated during normal working hours by the manual application of salt, on a "reactive salting" basis, after treatment of higher priority routes have been completed, having regard to available resources and prevailing conditions.
9.0 Treatment of Footways
9.1 During the treatment of the main routes on the road network, the adjoining footways should benefit from some overspray. During periods of severe weather footways may be treated during normal working hours by the manual application of salt, on a "reactive salting" basis, after treatment of higher priority routes has been completed, having regard to available resources and prevailing conditions. The treatment of footways will reflect their importance in the Borough's footway hierarchy.
10.0 Salt Bins
10.1 Salt bins will be maintained to assist highway users and emergency services at various points on the adopted highway network. These salt bins have been located where a particular need has previously been identified. Salt bins are not normally provided in built up areas, as these are habitually subjected to misuse which causes a nuisance to the public and renders the contents unusable.
10.2 Additional salt bins may be provided at the discretion of the Highway Authority having regard to the following criteria:
- Clearly identified need (hill / bend / junction)
- Not on a main route (Category 1&2)
- Site appropriate (not obstructing visibility or pedestrian movement / environmental considerations / risk of nuisance due to vandalism)
- A responsible person / organisation undertakes to spread salt / grit when necessary and inform the Council when the bin needs refilling
- Restrictions on costs as determined from time to time
10.3 Uncovered salt heaps will not be provided having regard to the potential environmental impact from leachates polluting water courses, and causing damage to verges, hedgerows and trees. It is considered that this damage far outweighs any benefits that may be attributed to the versatility of uncovered salt heaps. Also salt left in small heaps naturally exposed to the elements quickly deteriorates, and ceases to be useful for its intended purpose.
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