When do we salt

Often you will wake up to find frost on your car but will see that the roads have not been salted. This is because the decision is based on road and not air temperatures.

Salting will take place:

• When roads may be wet and road temperatures are forecast to be at or below freezing.
• When snow is forecast, but it takes time and traffic for salt to melt snow.
• Salting is usually completed before freezing but rain may occasionally delay treatment leaving roads liable to freezing until they are salted.

Where we salt

2,700 kilometres (1,680 miles) of roads are on the precautionary salting network shown on the Salting Map (1.01MB - pdf help). This includes major roads and routes to larger settlements, as well as accesses to emergency services such as hospitals, fire stations etc, to make travelling as safe as possible. BUT remember 80% of roads are not routinely treated.