Wolverhampton City Council’s gritters have been working around the clock over the weekend to keep main roads moving.
The authority’s fleet of gritters, covering nine rounds and staffed by two shifts of drivers, have been sent out 14 times since Thursday evening.
They have spread 995 tonnes of salt onto the highway. The council treats 64 per cent of its roads each time the gritters go out – the highest percentage of any West Midlands authority.
There is 2,000 tonnes of rock salt still in stock and with freezing weather forecast for the foreseeable future an extra supply of 360 tonnes has been ordered.
Councillor John Reynolds, cabinet member for city services, said: “The gritting crews have done a superb job keeping the city moving. They have been sent out around the clock.
“Staff who normally deal with street cleaning and grounds maintenance were diverted to clearing the snow from the city and town centres.
“We know from our social media channels that people really appreciate the work they do – we’ve had lots of positive comments.”
With no new snow this morning, the gritting crews have been deployed to treat non-priority routes (i.e. side roads). Ice and possible further snowfall are likely to be problems for the rest of the week.
Staff are also out hand gritting and clearing snow and responding to calls for assistance from the public.
Meanwhile, the city’s bin crews went out as normal this morning just as they did on Friday when the majority of rounds were completed.
However, with side roads still covered with snow there was expected to be some disruption to waste and recycling collections today.
Any streets that the bin lorries are unable to access will have their waste and recycling collected on their next scheduled collection date. Excess waste will be taken – domestic waste can be put in black bin liners and recycling must be put in open cardboard boxes or open carrier bags/white bags – but NOT black bin liners.