Connect Plus has been supporting its customer, the Highways Agency, to urge drivers to prepare themselves and their vehicles to help keep the roads running smoothly this winter.

Connect Plus, a partnership between Balfour Beatty, Skanska UK, Atkins and Egis Projects SA, supported a briefing held for media at its Leatherhead maintenance depot in Surrey last week where journalists were shown how prepared Connect Plus and the Highways Agency are for keeping the M25 moving during severe weather this winter.

Connect Plus maintains 20,000 tonnes of salt in stock for a fleet of 27 winter gritters and two sprayers of potassium acetate (a non-corrosive mix for tunnels and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at the Dartford Crossing). In addition, 22 extra effort vehicles can be fitted with snow ploughs for extra snow clearance capacity and to keep routes flowing freely. These vehicles cover 29 routes and approximately 400 kilometres of network.

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The Highways Agency encourages drivers to do their bit to keep the network moving too by taking some simple steps: check fuel and liquid levels, electrics and tyres before starting your journey; hold an emergency kit in your car, including ice-scraper, de-icer, warm clothes and blankets, torch, boots, first aid kit, jump leads, a spade, a road atlas and sunglasses (for the winter glare); check weather and travel conditions before setting out and if the weather is very severe, consider if your journey is essential; and finally, remember that even when roads have been treated with salt, ice can still form.

Highways Agency Traffic Management Director, Simon Sheldon-Wilson, said: "The Highways Agency is well-prepared for ice and snow. Across the UK we have over 500 salt spreading vehicles, ploughs and snow blowers, and 270,000 tonnes of salt already in stock. Using detailed weather forecasts, we treat the road network before road temperatures fall below freezing – often at night in preparation for peak traffic periods. But that doesn’t mean people should drive as they normally would – they still need to take care, as they would during any kind of adverse weather, and plan ahead."

(CD/MH)