WINTER MAINTENANCE ORGANISATION
CONTENTS / PAGE NUMBER1. / Responsibility / 3
2. / Aim / 3
3. / Application / 3
4. / Winter Maintenance Period / 3
5. / Level of Service / 3
6. / Operational Plan / 6
7. / Organisation and Situation Reports / 6
8. / Meteorological Information / 6
8.1 / 24-Hour and 5-Day Weather Forecast / 6
8.2 / Ice Sensors / 8
9. / Precautionary Salting Arrangements / 8
9.1 / Salting of Scheduled Routes / 8
9.2 / Salting of Non Scheduled Routes / 9
9.3 / Agreements with Other/Adjacent Authorities / 10
9.4 / Notification of Action / 10
9.5 / Car Parks / 11
10. / Snow Conditions / 12
10.1 / Organisation of Emergency Works / 12
10.2 / Administration / 12
10.3 / Priority of Routes / 12
10.4 / Closure of Mountain Roads / 13
10.5 / Deployment of Equipment / 13
10.6 / Measures to Conserve Salt Stocks / 13
10.7 / Grit Bins / 14
10.8 / Action when thaw comes / 14
11. /
Footways & Pedestrianised Areas
/ 1512. / Telephone Numbers / 16
12.1 / Bridgend County Borough Council / 16
12.2 / South Wales Trunk Road Agency / 19
12.3 / Vale of Glamorgan County Borough Council / 20
12.4 / Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council / 20
12.5 / Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council / 21
12.6 / South Wales Fire Service / 21
12.7 / Welsh Ambulance Service (NHS) Trust / 21
12.8 / South Wales Police / 21
12.9 / Weather Information / 22
12.10 / Media Information / 22
12.11 / National Farmers Union / 22
12.12 / Farmers Union of Wales / 22
12.13 / Helicopter Services / 23
Appendices
Appendix I - Precautionary Salting Routes / 24
Route 1 / 25
Route 2 / 26
Route 3 / 27
Route 4 / 29
Route 5 / 30
Route 6 / 31
Route 7 / 33
Route 8 / 35
Route 9 / 36
Route 10 / 37
Route 11 / 38
Heights of Strategic Locations / 39
All Salt Routes
Contour Plan
Appendix II– Secondary Streets
/ 40Appendix III – Bridgend Town Centre Pedestrian Area
/ 41/
Appendix IV– Secondary Footways
/42
/ /Secondary Footways Area A
/43
/ /Secondary Footways Area B
/44
/ /Secondary Footways Area C
/45
/ /Secondary Footways Area D
/46
/Appendix V – SWTRA Gritting Routes treated by Highways Direct Services
/47
Appendix VI – Forms / 48Distribution List / 49
Winter Maintenance Action / 50
WINTER MAINTENANCE ORGANISATION
1. Responsibility
Bridgend County Borough Council as a Highway Authority, is responsible for clearing of snow from the County Borough Highways and precautionary salting of specified routes.
2. Aim
The aim is to maintain, or reinstate, free and safe traffic flow, on all routes as quickly as possible during the winter period and to ensure that vehicles and pedestrians can use them with safety.
3. Application
This document serves as a guide to the Authority’s staff and workforce who may be involved in any necessary winter maintenance operations.
4. Winter Maintenance Period
The winter maintenance period commences on the first day of October and finishes on the last day of April. Extensions to this period may be necessary if unforeseen circumstances demand. The core period however is from Sunday 6th November 2011 through to Saturday 31st March 2012.
5. Level of Service
The level of service required will be determined daily by the Designated Highways Manager who will base his decisions on the day’s weather forecast and will instruct accordingly (see page 43 for instruction proforma).
Daily weather forecasts are received from the forecasting contractor, MeteoGroup UK Ltd, at the Waterton Office of the Street Scene Department during the working week and at the home of the designated Highways Manager at weekends. The forecast is also available from the MeteoGroup, BCBC Roadcast Web Site.
The Designated Highways Manager decides the appropriate action and transmits his instructions to the Highways Direct Services’ supervisor, copying the information to the Group Manager Highways and Flee, MeteoGroup, South Wales Police, Civic Offices, The Rhiw Car Park, South Wales Trunk Road Agency (SWTRA), Vale of Glamorgan Council, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council during the working week.
At weekends, the Designated Highways Manager will decide the appropriate action and transmit his instructions to Highways Direct Services’ supervisor, and copy the information to the homes of the three other Highway Managers on the rota, the Duty Officer (via phone), MeteoGroup, South Wales Police, SWTRA, Vale of Glamorgan Council, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council
The Designated Weekend Highways Manager rota is given on page 15 of this document.
Instructions for the level of service are at the discretion of the Designated Highways Manager and, depending on weather conditions, will fall into one or more of the following categories.
i. No action
ii. Early morning inspection - undertaken by Highway Maintenance Officers.
iii. Presalt - undertaken by drivers in gritting vehicles to apply salt at the specified rate for the complete length of the scheduled routes, or selected routes, or part of selected routes.
iv. Treatment of pedestrian areas in Bridgend Town Centre
v. Snow ploughing and salting - ploughing and presalting to be undertaken simultaneously.
Operational instructions issued by the Designated Highways Manager will be in the following format:
i. The resources required: number of salters etc.
ii. The time the action is to commence.
iii The rate of spread required is to be stated. The recommended rates of spread are given in the table below.
iv The routes/locations to be treated with priority order stated, if appropriate. (Unless otherwise instructed the priority order is to be route 3,4,5,8,1,6.7.2)
Recommended rates of spread of rock Salt
(Based on advise given in WG Trunk Road Manual)
Treatment Matrix.Weather Conditions
Road Surface Conditions
Road Surface Temperature(RST) / Air Temp / Treatment
Dry
Salting (g/m2) / Ploughing
(MARGINAL CONDITIONS)
Frost or forecast frost, RST at or above -2oC and dry or damp road conditions. / 12 / No
Frost or forecast frost, RST at or above -2oC and wet road conditions. / 15 / No
Frost or forecast frost, RST below -2oC and above -5oC and dry or damp road conditions / 20 / No
Frost or forecast frost, RST below -2oC and above -5oC and wet road conditions / 25 / No
Frost or forecast frost, RST at or below -5oC and above -10oC and dry or damp road conditions / 25 / No
Frost or forecast frost, RST at or below -5oC and above -10oC and wet road conditions / 2x20 / No
Light snow forecast (<10mm) / 10-20 / No
Medium/heavy snow or freezing rain forecast / 2x20 / No
Freezing rain falling / 20 (successive) / No
After freezing rain / 20 (successive if required) / No
Ice formed (minor accumulations) / above -5oC / 20 / No
Ice formed / at or below -5oC / 2x20 / No
Snow covering exceeding 30mm / 10-20 (successive) / Yes
Hard packed snow/ice / above -8oC / 20 (successive) / No
Hard packed snow/ice / at or below -8oC / Salt/abrasive
(successive) / No
Rates of spread for precautionary treatments may be adjusted to take account of residual salt or surface moisture.
Foercast readiness Amber / Discuss with forecaster where appropriate. Generally the situation will be monitored and an update will be issued to upgrade the Readiness Colour to RED if necessary
6. Operational Plan
Precautionary salting and snow clearance must be undertaken in a realistic and practical manner having due regard to the following basic requirements.
a) / Simplicity / Concise instructions must be issued at all levels.b) / Labour / Only qualified men are to be engaged on suitable plant and equipment. Units will be single manned when precautionary salting without a plough, but when a plough is fixed the units will be double manned in the interest of the safety of the operatives and the public.
c) / Plant / There should be sufficient front and second line equipment to deal with the problems in the Authority. The plant should be regularly checked and in working order.
d) / Material / 6mm rock salt is stockpiled in the Waterton Depot Salt Barn with a secondary stockpile at Crown Road, Maesteg.
7. Organisation and Situation Reports
During periods when road conditions are affecting the free and safe passage of vehicles and pedestrians, situation reports will be issued by the Communities Directorate on each day the condition lasts to all Corporate Directors and Heads of Service, Council departments, and the public via the BCBC Website.
All inspection staff will provide situation reports to the Designated Highways Manager before 09:00 hrs.
8 Meteorological information
8.1 24 hour and 5-day Weather Forecasts
24 hour and 5-day weather forecasts are provided each day by MeteoGroup UK through out the year.
1) 24 Hour Domain Weather Forecast (delivered by 13:30hrs)
The Bridgend County Borough area has been divided to account for the coastal and inland climatology. The domains being split into the areas shown on the Contour Plan and described below:
Inland(High Ground) / Above 150m, north of M4 / (Salt Routes 9 and 10)
Inland
(Low Ground) / Generally north of M4 / (Salt Routes 3, 4, 5, 8 & 11)
Coastal / Generally south of M4 / (Salt Routes 1, 2, 6 & 7)
The domain boundaries are shown on the All Salt Routes plan, and the Contour Plan
Each 24 hour forecast will include the following main features.
Readiness Colour (Green, Amber, Red)
RED
Road surface temperatures are expected to fall below freezing with ice and/or snow accumulations.
AMBER
Road surface temperatures are expected to fall close to or below freezing with ice and/or snow accumulations possible.
GREEN
Road surface temperatures are expected to remain above freezing with no ice and/or snow accumulations.
Min. Road Surface Temperature, Min. Air Temperature
Ice Extent, Hoar Frost, Fog, Wind, Rain, Snow, 24 hour weather summary for each domain including details on timing and height of sub zero roads
Forecasts will give positive statements of weather expectation and be qualified with the forecaster’s confidence in his forecast i.e. H - High or L - Low
2) 5 Day Weather Forecast
Forecast information as 24-hour forecast with the exception that the weather summary relates to each day rather than domain
3) Amendments
24-hour text forecasts will be amended and re-issued when any of the following criteria have been met.
a A change of frost status (no frost to frost, or expected frost to no frost– in this case frost refers to road surface temperature of zero degrees Celsius or less)
b Actual Road surface temperatures are below (or are now forecast to fall below) plus 1 degree Celsius, when initially forecast predicted otherwise.
c There is a change in snow status as follows:
Ø Change of accumulations category e.g. nil to slight, slight to moderate, moderate to heavy and vice versa. (Slight <2.5cm, 2.5cm<moderate<10cm, heavy>10cm)
Ø Change from isolated to widespread (e.g. for snow showers)
Ø Earlier or later thaw than expected
Ø Change in commencing/cessation time.
d There is a significant change in surface wetness and road temperatures are expected to fall to zero degrees Celsius or below
e There is a change in the timing of a frost.
The forecaster will phone the Winter Maintenance Duty Manager to notify him that an amendment to the original forecast has been issued
4) Site Specific Forecast
Site specific forecasts are supplied to Bridgend County Borough Council for the Stormy Down, Heol-y-Cyw and Werfa Weather Stations. They are available via the MeteoGroup “Roadcast” web site and the Vaisala “Icecast” web site.
8.2 Ice Sensors
A network of road weather stations has been installed throughout South Wales enabling the status and condition of certain roads to be monitored.
There are five sites within Bridgend and one other adjacent site pertinent to our local weather.
Route / Location / Site NameA4063 / Cymer Road, Croeserw / Caerau
A48 / Stormy Down / Stormy Down
B4280 / Heol-y-Cyw / Heol-y-Cyw
A4107 / Bwlch Mountain / Werfa
A4061 / Bridgend Town / Market Street
A48 / Colwinston / Colwinston (Operated by Vale of Glamorgan BC)
The main parameters measured by the weather stations are the road surface temperature and the surface condition, which can be wet, dry or icy. Four levels of salt concentration can be detected. In addition wind speed and direction and air temperature are measured.
Information from the Weather Stations is accessible via the Vaisala Icecast System Bureau. Stations are polled on a regular basis and the information is available in tabular or graphical form.
Graphical information from the Ice Stations is directly comparable with the specific forecast preparation by the forecaster. .
MeteoGroup forecasters will monitor the ice stations throughout the night and will inform the Designated Winter Maintenance Duty Manager especially when the road surface temperatures are expected to fall to zero or below when this was not originally predicted.