As the freezing temperature hits, the gritters are out to keep Sefton’s busiest routes moving.
Our teams are out gritting almost 470 km of the borough’s roads and pavements.
The Met Office has issued a Yellow Ice Warning for the Sefton area and elsewhere in the |North West this Wednesday and Thursday (20th and 21st November 2024).
Late evening or early hours
You may not have seen them, but that’s because they go out when the weather is at its coldest, which is usually late evening or in the early hours of the morning.
A dedicated team monitors Sefton’s weather conditions 24 hours a day. When temperatures begin to drop to 0°C Sefton Council’s gritting units are deployed. They carry out a large-scale carriageway treatment programme, as well as footway gritting in key town centres.
The weather is monitored throughout the day and any further additional treatment will be carried out if needed.
National guidelines
In line with national guidelines, priority is given to major carriageways and footways. Cycleways are also gritted where they form part of the approved carriageway and footway gritting routes.
You can find a map of the routes covered here.
Sefton said: “Although gritting has taken place, we do encourage people to take extra care when driving, walking, cycling and wheeling. Some side roads and pathways may still be icy.”
Preventing build-up of frost and ice
Spreading grit (or salt) on roads helps to prevent the build-up of frost and ice. It is mixed with brine as it is spread. This speeds up the thawing process and reduces waste.
Gritting works most effectively when there are significant amounts of traffic to break it down and spread it over a wider area. That is why the gritters are often out very early, ahead of the rush hour. It is also why busier roads tend to clear more quickly than side roads with less traffic.
Snow
Gritting will not prevent snow from settling on the road surface. After heavy snowfall, resources will be coordinated by Sefton Council and partner organisations to clear paths at priority locations. Snow ploughing will be carried out on the carriageway when the level of snow is excessive and could cause a potential obstruction.
You can find more information on driving in icy and snowy conditions here.
Merseyrail
Merseyrail has activated its cold weather plan in anticipation of further freezing conditions, expected overnight into Thursday 21 November, to help ensure that services continue to operate safely.
Temperatures are expected to fall to -1°C overnight with the metal rails set to be even colder. The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning across the North West of England, meaning Merseyrail’s preventative measures have been activated to deal with the potential for ice on the tracks tomorrow morning.
The first service of the day on each line will therefore run without customers, enabling the rail conditions to be checked before services can begin as normal.
Customers planning to travel in the morning should check for the latest travel advice before starting their journey by using the Merseyrail app, website (https://www.merseyrail.org/) or ‘X’ account (@merseyrail).
Greg Suligowski, Head of Communications at Merseyrail, said:
“As the cold snap continues, we once again need to instigate our cold weather plan to help manage the risk of ice on the rails”.
“The plan worked well on Tuesday morning, with customer services able to run normally after first services were cancelled and used to ensure it was safe to do so. We believe this approach will help avoid some of the challenges with ice on the rails we saw this morning”.
“Merseyrail and Network Rail teams will once again be out during the night, working hard to reduce the impact the forecasted weather has on the network. I’d encourage anyone wanting to travel on early morning services tomorrow to check for the latest updates before heading to the station”.
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