winter service activated to ensure road safety

November 30, 2020 Health



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The first snowflakes of winter are expected to fall this week in Limousin. The departmental services and the main cities are waiting: they have started the “winter service” to guarantee safety on the roads of Corrèze, Haute-Vienne and Creuse.

The month of December: its New Year’s celebrations, its family meals and the first snowflakes … Limousin, and more precisely the Creuse department, awaits its first “falls” of snow, starting from this Tuesday 1 December, especially in the highlands, at high altitude.

As the deconfinement accelerates during this December, more motorists will be expected on the roads. In particular on 24 and 31 December. Departmental services are pending: Winter road plans are gradually taking effect on departmental roads, starting Monday 30 November.

More than 4,000 km are covered in Haute-Vienne

In Haute-Vienne the winter service is active from Monday 30 November. Almost 200 people with trucks equipped with blades and spreaders work on the 4000 km of tracks until 1 March.

This year’s goal is to allow users to reach, in less than 10 kilometers, a practicable route in case of snow or ice.

The department then ranked its streets in order of priority:

  • Classified in category 1, priority is given to almost all of the 1,500 km of roads considered. These are the major economic axes in the direction of Limoges and the primary access network, which irrigates the territory and connects the municipalities.
  • Classified in Category 2, the rest of the network is itself emptied as resources can be assigned to it.

In the metropolis of Limoges, 117 agents of the road department are in charge of snow removal. The service is maintained by a team of 15 people on holidays, at night or on weekends.

There, too, the circuits are “priority” and other “secondary” depending on the number of people on the axles.

“In case of heavy snowfall, motorists are advised to postpone their trips to allow road crews to intervene in good conditions”, however, asks the metropolis.

Greener snow plows in Corrèze

The Haute-Vienne department explained, in its press release, that particular attention will be paid to salting: “While salt is effective against snow and ice, its excessive use degrades roads, pollutes the environment and strongly corrodes car bodies.”

In the Corrèze, snow blowers have adapted to these problems. From this year the fertilizer spreaders have been equipped with sensors that detect the temperature and humidity level of the pavement to modulate the amount of salt spilled. The technology allows for a 25% reduction in salt dispersed during operations.

The department has been running winter service from mid-November. The 4,700 km of departmental roads are covered, of which 1,500 km classified as “priority”.

As elsewhere, snow removal from roads in built-up areas is provided by cities or communities of municipalities. In Tulle, for example, the team has been on alert since November 27.

In Creuse still no snow but ready teams

At Creuse, nothing new for this winter profitability: the plan is renewed identically this year. However, a strengthening of health measures due to Covid-19 has been implemented. In each intervention machine the agents are in teams of two, social distancing is respected, it is mandatory to wear a mask and the vehicles must be disinfected after each use.

Between 50 and 60 agents are mobilized in the department every day. Snow has not yet fallen on the department. But this will not be long in coming. All teams are ready. “The machines and other equipment are arranged upstream and can intervene at any time”, inform the side of the departmental council.



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