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Keeping Surrey safe and moving in colder weather

Published: 27 October 2020

Yellow gritting lorries

Brand new fleet of 39 trucks now on standby

Surrey has a brand new fleet of 39 trucks which are now on standby through to the spring to help keep the roads safe if the temperature plummets.

The trucks, which are being named through a competition for schools, are vital for keeping the roads clear of ice and snow. In an average Surrey winter, around 7,000 tonnes of salt is used on around 70 salting runs when the trucks go out.

The roads are salted according to priority level, with about 39% of the county's roads classed as Priority 1. These include roads with the highest traffic flows, roads that are used to access emergency services, and major bus routes. (Motorways and the A3 are the responsibility of Highways England.)

We have published a full list of all our salting routes online.

You can follow @SurreyNews on Twitter to find out when the trucks are going out. And please remember to leave extra time for your journey and take care when driving in low temperatures.

Salting paths and pavements

Salt bins (usually yellow in colour) are located at various places around the county for use on public roads, pavements and other public footways. Please don't use them for private property as shortages in salt could cause a danger to motorists. Grit or salt for personal use can be bought from major builders' merchants or large garden centres.

Repairs and re-repairs to potholes

In colder weather potholes are formed when water trickles into cracks in the road surface and expands when frozen. It creates a space under the road surface which then breaks under the weight of traffic.

Potholes can be reported online to us.

If a repair is needed as the road's unsafe, it'll be made as soon as possible – but it's likely that a permanent repair will be needed once warmer temperatures have returned.

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