Making Yorkshire winter ready: new fleet of faster gritters and salt stores stockpiled

Some 37 high tech vehicles - with faster speeds and smart technologies - have joined National Highways' winter fleet under a £44m national investment.

It comes after two gritters powered by electricity were added to North Yorkshire County Council's fleet, with roadside weather stations on the most remote roads.

Gordon Thackeray, who heads up National Highways’ winter operations for the region, said the new gritters will help keep drivers on the move when severe weather hits.

He said: "These vehicles are environmentally friendly, have cutting-edge technological features and can be driven at a higher speed than older models.

“We now have a total of 58 vehicles ready to be deployed across Yorkshire and the North East and all of them will play their part in helping our autumn and winter operations team, including our drivers, to carry out their vital work over the next few months to treat the road surfaces whenever and wherever it is needed.”

The new gritters were road-tested last week in parts of Yorkshire, despite milder weather, amid warnings the region couldn't afford to be complacent ahead of any cold snap.

In addition, two new winter maintenance depots have opened, one just off the A64 at Malton and another off the A63 near Newport in the East Riding, covering routes such as Hull docks to Ferrybridge and Scarborough to York.

The gritters have been hailed as state-of-the-art, with the latest technologies. Eco-friendly, they have "precision" salt-spreading and can travel up to 50pmh. With smart technology, routes can be uploaded in real time, leaders explained.

Salt barns at the new depots can now hold up to 3,500 tonnes of salt, while there are 150 drivers across Yorkshire and the North East, covering some 434,217 miles last winter.

Nationally, the £44m investment brings the fleet up 530 gritters - equating in theory to one gritter for every eight miles of road. Some 280,000 tonnes of salt has been stockpiled.

Some rural areas in North Yorkshire were among those to see new weather stations rolled out last winter, providing real-time information for drivers. Powered by solar, some are sighted on remote roads such as at Ribblehead, with the famous peaks of Ingleborough in the background, to demonstrate conditions.

Highways England has said there are now 29 weather stations across Yorkshire

Teams will be working with the Met Office and meteorological experts this winter, it added, determining road conditions and gritting tasks.

Abigail Oakes from the Met Office, said: “Our staff, be that meteorologists embedded alongside the National Highways team in Birmingham in autumn or winter, or Met Office staff working from Exeter to deliver and support throughout the year, are proud to continue this partnership, which allows for the best possible support for road users during periods of severe weather.”