Winter maintenance
Gritting
To keep roads safe during winter, we treat surfaces before snow or ice is expected. This is done by spreading salt, commonly called 'gritting', to stop ice forming.
The main material we use is 10mm rock salt, which meets national standards. Sometimes we mix salt with sand for extra grip.
When bad weather hits, we also respond by:
- re-gritting if ice comes back
- ploughing snow after moderate or heavy falls
Grit bins
Find out about grit bins, including where they are located, and how to request one or report damage.
Planned treatment map
View the map to see which Aberdeenshire roads are scheduled for gritting:
Check which routes we plan to grit
For live updates on trunk roads treatment (A90, A96 and the A92 from Stonehaven Junction to Charleston Junction) visit Traffic Scotland website.
Precautionary treatments
We spread salt on roads before frost, snow, or freezing rain to stop ice forming and make snow easier to clear. Salt creates a layer that helps ploughs remove snow and lets traffic break up ice.
Once ice sticks firmly to the road it's very hard to remove, so treating roads early is essential.
Most winter road treatments in the UK are precautionary, based on weather forecasts. The amount of salt used depends on the conditions.
Each winter, we carry out about 200 planned treatments on main routes (around 1,000 miles of A and B class roads), using roughly 25,000 tonnes of salt.
Post event treatments
After snow has fallen, we clear roads by ploughing and then spread salt to melt ice and sometimes sand for extra grip. These methods can be used together or separately.
While salt can melt ice and snow, it isn't practical to use enough to clear thick layers. Ploughing is the most effective, economical and environmentally friendly way to deal with anything more than light snow.
Priority routes
Aberdeenshire has a large road network, so we focus on main routes first. During severe weather, minor roads and residential streets may take longer to treat.
View the map to see which routes will be gritted:
We maintain about 5,420km (3,370 miles) of roads, around 10% of Scotland's non-trunk network. Our Primary Treatment Network covers A roads and other busy roads, with 32 gritting routes operated from 14 deports, covering roughly 30% of our roads.
Secondary treatments
Roads outside the main gritting network may be treated if forecasts show snow or ice is likely to last for more than 48 hours.
View the map to see which routes are secondary:
Footways
Like roads, it isn't possible to stop frost or ice forming everywhere. To make best use of resources, we prioritise busy town centre footways where most people walk. We can't treat every footway because our resources are limited.
View the map to see which footways will be gritted: