We receive regular Met Office weather forecasts which help us identify when we need to grit. Gritting is usually complete within three hours of operations starting.
Roads that are gritted
Six primary routes, covering almost half of the roads in Knowsley, are gritted. These include:
- M62 motorway (Liverpool boundary to Tarbock Interchange)
- All strategic routes
- Major bus routes
- Transport Interchanges and bus stations
- Interconnecting roads within important industrial areas
- Roads leading to ambulance, fire stations and hospitals
- Roads on significant hills/inclines and known trouble spots
Our approach to winter gritting can be found in our Winter Service Policy.
Route maps
How we decide which roads to grit
Schools
Schools often clear key pathways, access roads, and frontages. In very severe conditions, we may grit outside school gates if enough salt is available.
Major retail parks and supermarkets
Major retail parks and supermarkets normally grit their car parks and the areas outside their shops.
Grit bins
In the early 2010s a decision was made for all council provided grit bins within the Borough to be removed due to ongoing issues which included being filled with litter, used to conceal illegal substances or people stockpiling grit/padlocking bins preventing others from accessing it.
Gritting product
We use a product called Safecote-treated 6mm Thawrox+ to treat the roads. This product has several advantages over regular rock salt:
- It works longer than regular rock salt.
- It works at temperatures as low as -10°C (regular rock salt only works down to -6°C).
- Less of the product is needed to treat roads, as it is more effective. This means there is less waste and that gritting vehicles do not need to return to the depot to be reloaded as often.
- Safecote reduces corrosion of the gritting vehicles.
- Safecote improves the distribution of salt on the highway by 35-40% compared to rock salt.
- Safecote allows us to start gritting earlier in the evening than we could with regular rock salt.
Reactive treatment
If snow and ice are forecast to last for 24 hours or more, we may consider requests for gritting in specific areas. However, we must balance these requests with our other priorities and our overall gritting schedule.
Where conditions of snow and or ice are forecast to persist for 24 hours or longer and where there are resources available, the council will consider requests in the context of competing priorities and programmed gritting operations. It should be noted that given the limited nature of the financial and other resources involved in delivering the winter service, it is neither reasonable nor possible to treat the entire public highway asset.
What you can do
You can help us keep the roads safe during the winter by:
- Having your own stock of salt to clear your driveway and sidewalk.
- Clearing your driveway and sidewalk carefully and taking sensible precautions.
- Helping vulnerable or elderly neighbours clear their driveways and sidewalks.
- Only driving when absolutely necessary and taking extreme care. Public transport is usually more reliable during the winter, and buses normally travel along main routes that are regularly gritted.
- Staying up-to-date with the weather forecast by watching and listening to local TV and radio stations.
Please note that we cannot treat the entire road network due to the limited resources available.
Repairing damage caused by bad weather
Damage to roads is caused by water and thawing snow seeping into small cracks in the road. As temperatures dip, the water freezes and expands, enlarging the cracks. This causes cracks and potholes to appear.
Inspection and repair works return the highway to a safe condition as quickly as possible. Reporting a pothole will help us identify and repair damage more quickly.
Find out more
Follow @Knowsley_Roads on Twitter/X for updates.