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• Traffic Incident Management Bulletin

February 2010

In December's issue of the Bulletin we discussed the planning process associated with delivering winter service. Since then the UK has experienced the most widespread snow since 1981 resulting in snow lying on un-treated surfaces over a number of days.

This article focuses on how winter service is delivered in the UK, and in particular on the Highways Agency's Strategic Road Network.

Contractual arrangements

The Highways Agency contracts its winter service duties under the Highways Act to a number of contractors across England through MAC (Maintaining Agent Contractor) and DBFO (Design, Build, Finance, Operate) contracts. For the most part the Highways Agency provides the vehicles and depots and the service providers are responsible for supplementing this with their own, as necessary, and providing all other elements of the service.

Decision-making and weather forecasting

On a daily basis each service provider will receive a number of detailed weather forecasts tailored to the road surface. These enable the service provider's staff to review the weather conditions and make a decision on the proposed treatment. This decision is generally taken at around midday but the service provider will have staff on duty 24 hours a day to monitor any changes to the forecast.

Across the Highways Agency network there are a series of weather stations, or Environmental Sensor Sites. We have heard previously how the Highways Agency is replacing the contracts for the procurement of the sites and bureau, and we will continue to keep you updated of progress with these contracts. The service provider monitors these sites on nights where the road surface is close to freezing and will liaise with the weather forecast provider if they are concerned about the safety of the road network.

Winter reporting system

Once the decision maker has instructed their own staff that an action is required, they will also inform key stakeholders such as the police, traffic officers, adjacent service providers and local authorities. Some service providers may still notify these parties directly but the Highways Agency has been running a web-based notification system for a number of years now. This system is open to all key stakeholders of the Highways Agency.

Treating the network

The Highways Agency aims to treat the entire strategic road network in advance of hazardous winter conditions. This is in contrast to many other highway authorities who treat varying proportions of their network. Each authority is responsible for making their own decision across the length of their network, and this is based on the risks involved - this is affected by factors such as speed, road layout and traffic flows. Because the Highways Agency road network is high speed with very high traffic flows it is important to ensure the road is treated to prevent accidents occurring.

Spread rate and materials

The Highways Agency provides guidance to its service providers on the options available regarding salt type and spread rates. These are based on existing publications such as Well-Maintained Highways and its own research that has been undertaken. Most Highways Agency service providers now use 6mm rock salt and have the facility to pre-wet the salt. This aids in adhesion of the salt to the carriageway resulting in efficiency savings and allowing the spread rates to be reduced.

Typically spread rates of 10g/m2 or 20g/m2 have been used depending on the anticipated weather forecast. However, the Highways Agency is currently undertaking further research and trials to reduce this.

Vehicles, plant and equipment

The majority of the Highways Agency vehicles are in the process of being replaced through a framework contract. As each of the MAC contracts is replaced the Foden/ECON vehicles, many of which are approaching 20 years old, are being replaced with MAC/Schmidt and MAN/Romaquip vehicles. These new vehicles enable the use of pre-wetted salt, and also provide a number of technological improvements. All of the Highways Agency spreaders have ploughs that can be mounted in advance of snowfall.

In addition, service providers have at their disposal additional vehicles such as snowblowers, tractors and ploughs mounted on other works vehicles.

Severe weather desks

Service providers have staff on duty throughout the winter period, but during periods of particularly severe weather it is appropriate to escalate to a severe weather desk (previously called a snowdesk). This is a dedicated member of staff (on occasions several staff) who focus on the delivery of the winter service. These enable the service provider to effectively and proactively manage their response to the weather when there is a risk of disruption to the network.

Learning lessons from January 2010

It is too early to include any objective lessons in this article. The Highways Agency will be applying its normal methodology in debriefing specific incidents, and will also be undertaking its annual regional and national winter reviews. There are lessons to be learnt from any winter, and this winter is proving to be more challenging than many. The Highways Agency will therefore use this opportunity to further develop areas of best practice and lessons learnt into its future programme of work.

Has this article been worthwhile reading? Why not take a moment to send us your comments, thoughts, or questions. Please email TIMBulletin@highways.gsi.gov.uk