Salting routes
We have a total of 57 salting routes. We operate 62 machines with ploughs plus two mini gritters.
All routes on the salting network are treatable in a maximum of 3 hours.
In order for a road to be salted, it must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Be one of priority roads PR1 or PR2 - (also referred to as County Routes)
- access routes to hospitals with accident & emergency facilities, fire stations, ambulance stations and other emergency services
- bus routes with four or more buses per day in both directions for at least five days of the week
- sites where there have been four or more personal injury accidents within a three-year period and frost/ice on the road surface was a contributory factor
- other ‘high risk’ sites where a full risk analysis has been carried out by ECC. The assessment based on traffic volumes and an allowance will be made if the road or site has a significant hill or bend
- the Winter Access Rural Network (WARN) – the access route to the main settlement of a parish of 50 or more households not already on the precautionary salting route.
Please note that the above criteria only applies to roads that Essex Highways look after. This excludes the A12, most of the A120. M11, M25 and part of the A130 which are administered by other organisations.
To view the salting routes go to our Highways Information Map below and zoom into the area you wish to see.