Winter Service FAQs
Winter can bring tricky road conditions. With a small workforce and miles of rural roads to cover, we take a prioritised approach to treating our roads for ice and snow. Full details are available on our Winter Service Plan page but here are some of the most commonly received questions.
How do we know when to treat our roads?
(How, when and where we grit roads)
We receive a forecast from our weather forecast provider specifically for the Orkney area, giving us a forecast of road surface temperatures. We then make a decision when to send out gritting crews at a time before the predicted temperatures are due to fall close to or below freezing point.
It takes approximately two hours to cover Priority 1 routes and the grit needs time to work on the road surface. We also investigate the time the road surface temperatures are due to rise and decide when is best to treat Priority 1 and Priority 2 routes in the morning.
