Overview
We look after most of the roads in Westmorland and Furness. In the colder months of the year our winter road maintenance plan is in action across Westmorland and Furness.
Our highways service start winter preparations in Spring to make sure our resources are in place and ready for the colder months to keep our communities safe and moving.
Gulley wagons are out clearing drains to prevent flooding during periods of high rainfall, and our fleet of 20 gritters receive a full service, deep clean and test run.
For the 2024/25 winter period, a stockpile of 12,000 tonnes of salt is kept at our five depots in Alston, Barrow, Millness, Kirkby Stephen and Penrith, ready to grit roads and replenish public salt bins throughout the season.
Between October and April, our Highways Winter Road Maintenance Policy is in action across the area where we monitor the forecast hourly.
Local data is obtained from our weather stations and a forecast is sent to us by a provider, which includes a 24 hour, two to five day and 10 day long forecast summarizing cloud cover, rainfall rates, dew points and a hazards report.
Forecasts are reviewed by the team first thing in the morning, at lunchtime and then again in the early evening which gives us a firm overview of the expected conditions.
If the weather forecast shows that cold, icy and snowy weather is due, we could take action including:
- sending our gritters out to spread salt on our network of priority 1 and priority 2 routes
- clearing snow using a snow plough or blower
To treat the roads and prevent freezing, we use gritters to spread 6mm crushed rock salt.
When conditions are particularly harsh, we mix this with 6mm grit stones to help with traction and break up thick ice.
Anticipating these conditions, and reacting correctly, depends on a mixture of local knowledge, experience, geography and investment in high-quality weather forecast software.
Our weather cameras also provide us with a real-time picture of the condition of 16 key roads in our area.
We also need our residents to prepare for travelling in winter and use the resources we make available such as grit heaps and bins to help keep our public roads and pavements safe.
View our our daily gritting map
Weather cameras
Westmorland and Furness has a number of weather stations dotted around the county. As part of these sites, a large number have live feed CCTV.
View live weather road conditions across Westmorland and Furness on our weather cameras.
National Highways
National Highways look after and grit major roads in Westmorland and Furness.
Key roads in Westmorland and Furness - the resilient road network
Find out which roads are maintained during periods of extreme weather in our resilient road network map.
Severe weather advice
Find out more about severe weather advice.