Salting and gritting - winter road gritting
You can register for email alerts to find out when we go out gritting this winter. We'll also spread the word on social media, via our Facebook page.
Travel safely
Winter conditions can make roads hazardous, even where gritting has taken place. Road surfaces may remain slippery, grit does not work immediately, and not all roads are routinely gritted. Please take extra care when travelling during cold or icy weather.
This page explains when and where we grit roads in Central Bedfordshire, how routes are prioritised, and how the gritting programme works. You can also check whether your road is included in a gritting route and find out who is responsible for motorways, trunk roads and locally gritted roads.
When and where we grit
Our highways teams closely monitor weather forecasts so they can prepare and respond when freezing conditions are expected.
We salt just under half of the roads in Central Bedfordshire. Roads carrying the highest volumes of traffic, with the greatest risk of accidents or providing key access are given priority. These include all A&B roads and smaller roads, that are busy commuter routes, routes to hospitals, schools, or key to the emergency services.
You can search for your road / street name to see if it is on our gritting run. If it isn't listed, we don't salt that road.
Priority 0 gritting routes
Roads we will treat in the rare event that resources are not available for treating priority 1 networks. It includes A and B class carriageways and the emergency services.
Priority 1 gritting routes
Priority 1 includes:
- all A and B class roads
- most C class roads
- some UC class roads
- busy peak commuter routes
- main peak hour bus routes
- routes to fire stations
- ambulance stations
- hospitals
- most school bus routes
Priority 2 gritting routes
Roads we will treat when the Priority 1 network has been treated and resources are available.
Local roads
Some town and parish councils provide a local gritting service with the delegated authority from us. You can contact your town / parish council to check if your area is covered.
Trunk roads and motorways
The M1, A1, A421 and A5 are maintained by Highways England. They can be contacted on 0300 123 5000 or info@highwaysengland.co.uk.
Check if your road is on a gritting route
You can search for your road or street name to find out if it is included in our gritting programme.
If your road is not listed, it is not included in our routine gritting runs.
How does it work?
We’ve a fleet of ten gritter lorries. Gritters are often deployed early in the morning or late at night, outside peak traffic hours, to help reduce disruption.
Grit (salt) is used to lower the freezing point of water and reduce the risk of ice forming. However, gritting does not make roads ice-free immediately. This is because:
- traffic helps spread and activate grit, which means busy roads usually clear more quickly than quieter roads
- grit becomes less effective in very cold temperatures. Below -5°C its effectiveness reduces and below -7°C it is almost ineffective
- during extreme cold or heavy snowfall, a mixture of salt and grit may be used
- rain can wash grit away, and heavy or prolonged snowfall can cover roads faster than grit can work
Why you may not see grit being spread
Modern gritters apply precise amounts of salt, sometimes pre-wetted, which may not always be visible on the road surface. Even if you cannot see it, the treatment may still have been carried out.
How do we decide when to go out?
We grit when road temperatures are predicted to drop below zero and when the roads are expected to be damp. Ice will not form on a dry road in dry air. We receive a forecast from the Met Office specifically tailored to predict road surface temperatures – this differs from other forecasts which usually predict air temperatures. We also use a computer system that collects weather and road information at different sites across Central Bedfordshire.
We monitor this data at regular intervals around the clock and respond accordingly. In severe weather we’ll probably be out gritting, clearing snow and responding to emergencies around the clock. In prolonged periods of bad weather - if our grit stocks allow - we will then start to look at gritting more minor routes and pavements. Sometimes when the roads are too dangerous, our bin crews cannot collect your rubbish and these crews are diverted to clearing snow.