A gritter being prepared for the road

Gritting trials will be a life saver

Vital trials that could help save lives on icy roads are to be carried out next week.

The advanced National Gritting Trials will take place on the A34 Cannock Road from Pottal Pool Island to Camp Road between Stafford and Cannock. They start on Monday April 3, and will last for four days.

The trials are being co-ordinated by the County Council and the National Salt Spreading Research Group (NSSG). Staffordshire has been chosen to carry out the trials as the County Council is a recognised leader in highways research.

The trials may help prevent many road deaths and injuries, and also save the public purse large sums by making gritting more effective.

John Wakefield, The County Council's Cabinet Member for Development Services said: "The way the roads are gritted in the UK has not changed much in the last 20 years, but these important trials could lead to real improvements in techniques. That could save money, but more importantly lives.

"Better gritting techniques could also help the environment by reducing run-off and associated pollution."

The trials will compare the performance of traditional rock salt, salt pre-wetted with a brine solution and salt treated with chemical additives under a range of conditions. This will include varying grain size, quantity and spread.

James Bailey, the County Council's Head of Highway Policy said: "Carrying out gritting trials in April may seem odd, but the timing is quite deliberate. Any earlier and the gritting vehicles would be on standby for real winter gritting operations, and any later they would be laid-up for summer maintenance and storage.

"We do not need freezing conditions for these trials to be effective, but rain would adversely affect them, so the trials are dependent to an extent on the right weather."

The trials will mean road closures. The A34 will be opened during rush-hour. The proposed closures are:

Daytime 10am-3.30pm

Nightime 8pm-5.30am

Cllr Wakefield added: "We know these trials will cause some disruption to road users and we apologise for that. However it's important to remember that short-term pain could lead to very important long-term gains.

"The road will be open at peak times, both to minimise disruption to commuters, but also because we need to analyse how the salt performs under heavy traffic conditions."

Some gritting facts:

Annually over £200 million is spent on winter salt to treat roads in the UK
Each year Staffordshire County Council spends approximately £2.5 million on gritting
Each time Staffordshire's road network is gritted costs around £30,000

Page Last Modified: 30/01/2007 16:03:34

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