Transport for Buckinghamshire is Preparing for Winter

The end of this year is looking rather different than we are used to, however Transport for Buckinghamshire’s (TfB) winter plan is still very much the same, to keep Buckinghamshire’s highways safe, no matter the conditions.

 

Buckinghamshire has over 3,000km of road network and not all of it will be gritted during the winter season, as limited resources available to TfB requires them to focus the service on 25 pre-selected priority routes that are required to keep the general traffic moving. The depots across the county have a combined total of 10,500 tonnes of salt, this includes an emergency supply held in Saunderton.

 

The decisions on whether to send out the gritters are made daily, based on local weather forecasts and road temperatures, rather than air temperatures. The readings are provided by monitoring stations around the county, with daily weather forecasts received showing the predicted ground temperature and dew point. The dew point is the point where air has cooled to a degree that it can no longer hold moisture. If the ground temperature is forecast to drop to zero, ice would be expected to occur on untreated roads. The gritters are likely to be sent out whenever road temperatures are forecast to fall below +0.5°c and ice is expected to form. The decision is not taken lightly as each run uses approximately between 65 and 85 tonnes of rock salt.

 

As well as the technical reports being a factor in the decision making, the experience and teamwork of TfB operatives also play a big role in deciding when to send the gritters out. Once the decision has been made, an update will be provided on TfB’s twitter pages, @TwitGritter and @tfbalerts as per previous years. The fluffy animal photos posted with the updates on @tfbalerts have proved to be a big hit with the public and generally looked forward to by the followers of the page.

 

There is never any guarantee that the roads will be completely clear of ice or snow, due to several factors such as a late change in forecast, or if the teams must wait for rain to clear before gritting as it cannot be applied during wet weather due to the risk it could be washed away. In severe cold weather, salt becomes less effective, and below -8°c even salt will not prevent ice from forming.

 

The winter service is not due to start until October however gritting crews have already been out for their pre-winter training, providing re-fresher training to current staff and training new operatives. Before the gritting season starts officially, all the vehicles will be thoroughly serviced, and inspected, and the drivers will re-familiarise themselves with the machines and ensure the equipment is working correctly during the winter parade held on Saturday 5^th October 2020.

 

Transport Cabinet Member, Nick Naylor, said:

 

‘I am incredibly proud of the hard work demonstrated by TfB during this strange year and even more so with their impeccable planning, ready to keep the county safe during the inevitable cold snap. Without their dedication, travelling around Bucks during those frosty winter months would be near impossible and we need to keep those roads clear for our key workers. Thank you to all at TfB.’

The challenges of winter for TfB

Covid-19 has been a trying time for the country, especially for those on the front line such as health care staff and emergency services. Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB) has been continuing to maintain the roads network across Buckinghamshire to ensure they are as safe as possible, so our emergency workers can travel to where they are needed most.

 

As well as our wonderful NHS, there are a number of workers around the county keeping public services running and TfB is extremely proud of its operational colleagues, who are still out there trying to keep things running smoothly.

 

Due to this commitment to service, the local road networks remain open and as a result, essential workers can travel and deliveries can be made to the vulnerable.

 

Whilst traffic volumes around Buckinghamshire are at an all-time low, TfB can get ahead of the game with much needed repair works on main traffic routes without causing major disruption. Our primary focus is to continue to keep roads in Buckinghamshire safe, particularly for emergency services, key workers and distribution of essential supplies. Safety for both our staff and the public is of the utmost importance. Social distancing and hygiene standards will be observed in accordance with government guidance whilst balancing the need for any safety defects to be repaired in the correct manner.

 

In the first few weeks we carried out repairs of the most safety critical defects, and assessed our planned programme of more extensive improvements in the light of many unknowns including likely availability of workers, materials, equipment. We have also been working with utility companies to see what changes need to be made, if any.

 

We are now actively progressing a wide range of road improvements, and even bringing some forward while the network is much quieter than normal. This is on the basis that ongoing road improvements are necessary to stop deterioration of the highway in the future, in line with current government guidelines, and the road network needs to be fit for purpose for when the lock-down ends as well as keeping essential workers moving safely now.

 

All of this has been going on as we have headed out of the winter service delivery period, which runs between from October until April. So what did we do over the winter period?

 

Winter usually throws an array of challenges at Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB)! Most people associate winter with short days and cold weather, but it was storm Ciara and Dennis and the associated, almost relentless heavy rainfall, that reminds us that these can have just as great an impact on the travelling public.  Whatever the conditions, the TfB operational delivery team, strives to keep the highway safe.

 

In preparation for the 2019/20 winter, over 10,000 tonnes of salt were stocked in the depots for the fleet of 25 spreading vehicles, which operate from the four area bases.

 

The first two runs of the gritting season began on 27th October, which was very similar to the previous year. As the winter progressed, it became colder than last year, and with wet roads, increasing the risk of slippery surfaces, increased gritting was required. By the end of December, 25 runs were carried out - an increase of 9 on the previous year. Even Christmas night was a frosty one, so TfB gritter drivers were out gritting roads before people embarked on their Boxing Day journeys.

 

On a daily basis throughout the winter, TfB routinely monitors road surface temperatures gritting season in order to plan each day. It’s the road surface temperature (RST) that is important, so if there is a forecast of the RST dropping below +0.5°C and ice likely, the crews are alerted and gritters get ready to begin their routes.

 

The winter period began on 27^th October and ended on the 19^th April, with a total of 60 gritting runs completed.

 

 

December and January also saw a huge amount of rainfall. In normal seasonal weather, two gully emptying machines are permanently on the TfB contract, delivering the cyclical gully clearing programme each year.

 

During the period of extreme rainfall, it was a challenge to keep on top of the significant additional reactive work of clearing flooding sites.  Two additional machines were purchased in order to support the depots in the North and South of the County.

 

With constantly saturated roads and floodwater on the carriageway, there was a rapid deterioration of large areas of road surface, with the teams reacting to an influx of pothole reports on a daily basis.

 

In early February, two severe storms hit the County. When storm Ciara hit, the standby crews responded to over 150 tree related issues, ranging from branches to entire trees fallen across the carriageways. Work for the TfB gangs and supply chain partners included closing roads, clearing debris and attending to flash floods after very heavy isolated rain periods.

 

Just a week later storm Dennis prompted another 150 related callouts to approximately 30 trees with the remainder of the calls being flooding issues.  Many fields became saturated, with large amounts of run-off reaching the road network, leaving the road drainage system unable to cope.

 

So, in all elements, the winter period was non-stop for the operational and extended support teams at TfB who are on call 24 hours a day.

 

Transport Cabinet Member, Nick Naylor, said:

 

“I am incredibly proud of the hard work demonstrated by our winter crews at TfB. Without them, travelling around the County would, at times, be near impossible. Their work is invaluable, with many team members sacrificing Christmas celebrations and festivities to keep the network moving. I know I am not alone when I say that we really appreciate all that the teams do. Thank you!”

 

TfB aims to keep the travelling public updated with news regarding road closures, gritting updates and general roadworks via social media so, please follow TfB twitter @tfbalerts or the Facebook page, Transport for Bucks.