Island Roads has completed its first season providing winter maintenance across the Isle of Wight in what has been an unusually wet and challenging winter across the country, but notably warm.
Between 1st November last year and the end of March, just 21 salting runs have been performed by the PFI contractors with 636 tonnes of salt being laid on a total of 10,233km of highway by the winter maintenance fleet of ten vehicles. The gritting operation was carried out by a total of 21 drivers and five supervisors.
Though the winter maintenance season is officially over, Island Roads will naturally respond should the Island receive any unseasonably cold weather, however the warmer weather is set to arrive with talks of a 4 month heatwave on the horizon.
Steve Jenkins, Island Roads operations manager, said:
“We have invested heavily in vehicles and in the new depot to allow us to deliver a comprehensive winter maintenance service over the course of the PFI contract and I’m pleased to say our first season providing winter maintenance was completed successfully.
“We know from comments received that our efforts in periods of freezing weather were appreciated. We will continue to review the operation and make improvements where necessary as keeping the network open and safe during difficult weather is a priority for us.”
