Winter gritting routes
Find information about our winter roads service including the roads in County Durham which are identified as gritting routes.
Follow us on Twitter #twittergritterNE to keep up to date with our winter roads service.
Our road gritting service
Pre-salting (gritting) is the laying of rock salt before frosty conditions. It stops ice forming on the road surface. Our road network is split into priority 1 and priority 2 routes.
- Priority 1 routes: These routes typically include all of the A roads and the majority of the B roads, most bus routes and other busy areas.
- Priority 2 routes: In times of prolonged severe weather we will also treat some minor and C roads, as resources become available.
The A1, A19 and A66 roads are managed by Highways England.
Winter gritting video transcript (PDF) [119KB]
Today's gritting plans
Find out about today's gritting plans - which roads we plan to grit and/or which roads we have gritted.
How are decisions made?
The decision to pre-salt (grit) the road network is based on forecasts for:
- winter weather
- road surface temperature
- dampness of the road surface
- air temperature and humidity
Snow clearance
Find information about road and footpath clearance during heavy snow.