How the Council’s Roads Services plan on tackling ice and snow

Winter road and pavement maintenance:

The winter months are a busy time for the Council’s Roads Services, who work to keep the road network free from dangerous ice and snow.

To keep Edinburgh moving, the Road Services team will treat the roads and pavements in the following order:

Roads:

• Important principal roads, major bus routes, roads to hospitals, ambulance depots and fire stations
• All other main roads and local distributor roads
• The remainder of the road network, for which the Council has responsibility, including residential streets and cul-de-sacs.

Pavements:

• City centre and certain high level areas in the south of the city
• Urban shopping areas and other busy routes, including those to hospitals and schools
• Main pedestrian routes to residential areas and steep hills within housing developments
• Any remaining pavements.

Due to the size of the city it takes time to reach all of the pavements and roads.

To enable you to grit the areas around your home, more than 1,600 salt bins are positioned throughout Edinburgh.

These bins are checked and refilled on a regular basis during the winter months or can be filled on request by calling freephone Clarence on 0800 23 23 23.

Trunk roads within the city boundary – for example the City of Edinburgh Bypass, the M8, M9, etc – are maintained by the Scottish Government. Their agent is BEAR Scotland and you can contact them by calling 0800 138 9903.

In freezing conditions outside of normal working hours, only important principal roads and major bus routes, roads to hospitals, ambulance depots and fire stations will be treated.

In snow conditions all available resources will be deployed for as long as snow conditions prevail.