During the winter period, West Dunbartonshire Council grits and salts roads to minimise the danger and inconvenience caused by snow and ice on our roads. Trained operatives are on standby from October through to April, ready to treat the roads whenever ice or snow is expected. West Dunbartonshire Council maintains a stock of over 5000 tonnes of rock salt, with ten gritting vehicles with snowploughs available for use at short notice.
When Do We Grit?
Senior employees regularly monitor weather forecasts provided to the Council by Glasgow Weather Centre, treating roads whenever Glasgow Weather Centre predicts that ice or snow is likely. Weather forecasts for local areas are not always accurate and the Council cannot always grit the roads before the onset of bad weather. However, if ice or snow occurs unexpectedly, the Council can respond quickly to treat affected roads.
How Do We Decide Where To Grit?
As resources are limited by number of factors and it is not possible to grit every Council maintained road at the same time, the Council has developed a strategy giving priority to the most important roads.
Subject to weather forecasting, it is the Council's aim to routinely grit First Priority roads before the morning peak traffic. Second and Third Priority roads will only be treated during prolonged instances of severe weather and only after all First Priority roads have been treated. The treatment of Second and Third Priority roads is also dependant on the resources available at the time.
Although the First Priority roads are treated first, the Council will grit those Second and Third Priority roads on-route to the First Priority roads.
Prioritising Roads
Roads gritting priorities have been determined in the following way:
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First Priority
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- 'A' Class roads
- Access routes to hospitals and emergency services
- Local danger spots
- Bus routes
- Roads with steep gradients leading to main and sheltered housing areas
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Second Priority
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- 'B' Class roads (not included under First Priority Road
- ‘C' Class roads
- Roads leading to concentration of employment
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Third Priority
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- Unclassified public roads
- All other roads maintained by the Council
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Private Roads
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The Council is not responsible for maintaining private roads, but may treat them during extended periods of bad weather, but only when resources are available and all public roads have been treated.
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Trunk Roads
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A winter maintenance service for the A82 between the Erskine Bridge and Balloch is provided separately by the Scottish Executive using contractors BEAR and Amey, they can be contacted on telephone number 0800 0281414.
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Footway Priorities
Priority footway treatment will normally commence at the same time as the treatment of the roads. Priority is given to areas of high pedestrian concentration, for example:
Grit Bins
Grit bins are placed strategically throughout the Council area. They are provided for public use and are usually adjacent to steep hills, tight bends or close to less accessible footways.
Please feel free to use them whenever necessary.
Residents of West Dunbartonshire can also obtain small quantities (up to 10kg) of rock salt for private use from the Council's Road Depots located at:
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Elm Road, Dumbarton, G82 2RH
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Standford Street, Clydebank, G81 1RF
How You Can Help
Gritting lorries and snowploughs are large vehicles that have difficulty treating narrow residential streets, tight bends and junctions. You can help by avoiding double parking, parking on tight corners or, wherever possible, parking off the road.
Look Out!!
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Rain showers followed by clear skies can cause ice to form on roads very quickly. The rain may have washed any salt off the road leaving it vulnerable to icing.
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Sunrise after a clear night can cause frost to form on roads, even if it is dry.
Black roads do not mean ice-free roads. Black ice is extremely dangerous, as it is often localised and not readily visible. It can persist or recur even after the road surface has been treated with salt.
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Water running off grass verges or embankments onto the road can cause isolated icy patches to form, even if the rest of the road surface seems fine.
Winter Information Leaflet
Roads Winter Information Leaflet (251KB .pdf document)
Contact Us
If you have a query regarding whether or not the Council has adopted your street or about public utility street works please telephone (01389) 737633 or email heed@west-dunbarton.gov.uk.
