Gritters and ploughs were dusted down in Aberdeen yesterday as the campaign to keep traffic flowing on the roads during winter was launched.
Aberdeen City Council revealed its winter maintenance programme for 2015 at the West Tullos Road Depot, revealing it will spend near £2million on keeping routes safe.
Between November 16 until March 20, 90 workers will monitor forecasts around the clock and be prepared to go out at any time to clear the way for vehicles.
Alongside this, bags of salt will be distributed to communities within the city to allow them to deal with snow which lands on roads nearby.
Leader of the council Jenny Laing said:
“Aberdeen City Council wants to keep roads open and residents safe and we also want to help people to help themselves so our website has up-to-date information including weather forecasts and live information about where gritters have been out which can help with journey planning.
“Our dedicated staff do their best under winter conditions, and often go above and beyond their duty to help people.”
During the winter, 47% of roads in the city will be treated before 7.30am, with priority given to major bus routes and roads towards public service facilities.
The council also has 10,500 tonnessalt stocked up ready to use.
Road worker John Hanvey added: “We’re as prepared as we can be for the winter.
“The forecast is for a worse winter this year than last year but it’s hard to tell.
“We often go above and beyond in trying to help people, if we see someone in a car we always try to help.”
The local authority’s budget for winter and emergencies has been maintained at £1.977million, but this could be boosted if weather is worse than expected.
Councillor Laing added: “We hope it won’t be a severe winter this year but you never know in Scotland.
“Our staff and equipment and are as prepared as they can be.”