Aberdeen City Council round-the-clock gritting operations continuing
01 March 2018
Aberdeen City Council’s round-the-clock gritting operations were today continuing against the snow, freezing temperatures, and snowdrift from high winds.
The full complement of roads services staff have once again been around the city in road and pavement gritters and on foot to spread salt on roads and pavements in areas in the midst of the amber weather warning.
A total of 42 schools were affected by the snow, a large majority of which were later openings. Dyce Academy and Orchard Brae Primary School was closed to pupils, and several others were closed to school transport pupils including Aberdeen School for the Deaf, Bridge of Don Academy, Cults Academy, and Sunnybank Primary School.
There were no major issues with waste collection crews picking up normal collections today and yesterday after crews helped each other out, and the City Council is asking people to be patient if their bins are not collected over the next few days, and waste collection crews will attempt to catch up as soon as they can.
Resources which were used to battle the weather today include 17 road gritters, 15 pavement gritters, 9 pick-ups which distribute the salt to the pavement gritters, 50 roads services staff, with additional help to 50 grounds services staff with vehicles working in sheltered housing areas, cemeteries and pavements.
The weather today included further snow showers throughout the day and tonight is forecast to bring a further 1cm-3cm. Snow will continue to drift due to the strong easterly winds, even when no snow is falling. Road surface temperatures rose above 0C during the day but were due to dip below zero again which could lead to additional icy conditions.
The amber weather warning will be in place across the city until about 10am on Friday although there will still be a yellow weather warning over the weekend. Residents should be aware a yellow warning means s
In response to the yellow weather warning which is due to stay in place for Saturday and Sunday, Aberdeen City Council is increasing levels of gritting staff throughout the weekend to allow the winter response action to be similar to the working week.
Aberdeen City Council transport spokesman Councillor Ross Grant said: “The weather today again was very demanding on our resources with all road and pavement gritters out and more than 100 staff out on the streets – 50 or our regular road crew staff along with 50 of our parks and gardens staff.
“The weather will continue to cause disruption and we still have an amber warning until 10am on Friday moving into a yellow warning and residents should be aware this means the snow can still cause considerable disruption.
“We will continue our round-the-clock gritting operations tomorrow with two of our major priorities being to keep the main roads and main pavements clear. Our staff will continue to review the forecast during the day and focus efforts in areas where there is most need, such as today when gritters were sent to areas of the city with steep hills and higher ground where they were getting heavy and persistent snow showers.
“The yellow weather warning is looking likely to be in place for the weekend and we’ve already arranged for increased numbers of gritting staff then so they are at the same levels as during the week.
“Lastly, we’d ask people to plan any journey they’re undertaking and follow local police advice on Twitter and Facebook for road safety updates.”
Residents wanting the latest information on school closures should go to the ACC school closures website at https://aberdeencity.gov.uk/school-closures?page=1 and be aware that headteachers decide on whether a city school is closed or has a late opening.