Road and Street Gritting

• Where we grit
• When we grit
• Provision of grit bins
• Gritting of pedestrian routes

Where we grit

Gritting priority is given to three types of roads/routes and based upon the recommendations contained in a National Code of Practice. In the event of salt grit shortages, gritting will be carried out on the Main Routes Network only.

Priority 1

Priority 1 roads are the top priority. These are heavily used roads, main roads, roads that have bus routes and roads where risk from snow fall is higher due to steeper gradients of roads.

In the event of snowfall settling the Council will dispatch gritting vehicles to spread rock salt on these roads first. Although gritting is usually commenced once snow has started to settle, the Council occasionally grits before snow falls if conditions and weather forecasts suggest this is a wise course of action.

Gritting too far in advance of snow fall can be a waste of time as the grit may be thrown to the side of the road by traffic and by the time snow falls there may be none left on the carriageway to be of any use. It is not unusual to grit priority 1 roads more than once during a sustained cold period when snow continues to fall.

Priority 2

Once the Council is satisfied that priority 1 roads are sufficiently well treated and traffic is moving well, Priority 2 roads are then gritted. Again it is not unusual to grit Priority 2 roads more than once during a sustained cold period when snow continues to fall.

Priority 3

Any road that is not listed in Priority 1 or Priority 2 is deemed to be Priority 3. Because weather conditions are rarely very bad for a very long period of time it is unusual to carry out gritting operations beyond Priority 2. However, if the need arises resources will be deployed to do so. Officers will assess local conditions throughout the borough and direct resources to deal with Priority 3 locations where gritting is needed the most.

To find out which priority a particular road falls under, please see the document in the attached files section below.

Main Routes Network

The Main Routes Network comprises the streets that will be gritted in the event of a shortage of salt grit. The purpose of the Main Routes Network is to ensure that in the event of there being pressure on local, regional or national stocks, we can reduce the rate of salt grit use whilst keeping the main traffic routes within Haringey running.

The Council would not expect to resort to Main Routes Network gritting unless this was required as a regional or nationwide initiative to protect salt grit supplies available to London or the country as a whole.

The winter maintenance Main Routes Network has been devised to identify the roads in the borough that carry the most traffic so the salt grit we do use achieves the maximum benefit. This is based on the Priority 1 carriageway gritting network, but roads carrying lesser volumes of traffic have been removed. Generally the roads that have been removed from the Priority 1 network are residential streets that carry minor bus routes but where other traffic is light.

The list of roads included in the Main Routes Network can be found in the attached files section below.

|Back to top

---

When we grit

The Council are recipients of a specialised winter weather forecasting service provided by the Met Office. The forecast, received on a daily basis, gives predictions of the possibility of freezing road temperatures, snow etc, and the time those conditions may occur.

In addition, throughout the winter season, an inspector is employed to check the accuracy of the forecast by measuring road surface temperatures. This enables decisions to be made if, or when gritting is necessary. The aim is to treat Priority 1 roads before road surface temperatures fall to zero degrees Celcius and all Priority 2 roads by 7.30 am.

|Back to top

---

Provision of grit bins

There are many grit bins throughout the borough in areas not normally subject to mechanical treatment, at hilly, exposed locations and potentially dangerous road junctions. A list is provided in the attached files section below.

Grit bins are checked and topped up each October and throughout the winter maintenance period which runs from 1 November to 31 March. Suggestions for new sites are welcomed.

If you would to suggest the placement of a new grit bin, please contact:

Waste Management Team

Tel 020 8489 5637 or 020 8489 3266.

Requests for the provision of a grit bin are assessed and judged against a criteria. They are only provided if full justification can be shown.

|Back to top

---

Gritting of pedestrian routes

In very severe weather conditions, especially when snow or ice may remain for some days, consideration is given, in priority order, to the treatment of pedestrian routes - footways and pavements in the following order :

1. town centre streets/main pedestrian routes
2. shopping frontages
3. busy pedestrian routes
4. hospitals and doctors surgery frontages/routes
5. school frontages/routes
6. community centre frontages/routes
7. steep sections of footway/footpaths
8. predominately elderly residents areas
9. other residential areas
10. industrial estates.

Please also see Pavement Gritting.

|Back to top

---

Attached Files

Filename	Filetype	Size
priority 1 carriageways dec 09.pdf	PDF	45 KB
priority 2 carriageways dec 09.pdf	PDF	47 KB
priority 3 carriageways dec 09.pdf	PDF	114 KB
grit bin location list.pdf	PDF	38 KB
main routes network.pdf	PDF	12 KB
PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat reader. Please click here to download.

Useful External Links

The following links are not part of the Haringey Council website. Please read our legal disclaimer before using these links

• Met Office Website

|

Your feedback on this webpage

Was this information useful?

Yes No

Additional comments How can we improve this page? (please leave your contact details if you would like a reply).

If you want to give comments on the service itself please visit our Contact page.

|